The Samurai of Redwall
by Cuiasodo
Summary: Collin, a boy lost in the woods, stumbles upon the wold of redwall and discovers his destiny.
1. Foreward

Foreword

First I'd like to explain why there so many chapters to start with. I originally wrote it as a book for fun. But since I discovered , I've decided to post this story.

Next I would like to tell you about story updates. It may take me awhile, as I try to think these chapters out because I'm trying to create something similar to a novel.

Thirdly, my views of certain animal's attitudes and lifestyle may differ from your own views on the subject. My suggestion... GET OVER IT!

Lastly, a disclaimer. The only disclaimer I am going to say in this story. I do not own any characters that Brian Jacques made up. I am simply using them because I have to. This is fan fiction after all. That being said, enjoy the story and be sure to review


	2. Lost

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 1: Lost!

"This is great! Just great!" Collin said to himself.

Collin was a 13- year old boy who was on a camping trip with his friends. Collin had black hair, which he had parted to the right. He had blue eyes and was wearing a red shirt, green jeans, and brown hiking boots.

"It'll be great Collin' they said. 'You'll get lots or fresh air' they said. Well look where I am now! Lost in the middle of these God forsaken woods!!"

Collin's friends had tried to continually coax him into going on this camping trip. They were thrilled when they finally got him to come. But Collin had a good reason to not want to come. He hated the outdoors and worst of all; he had a horrible sense of direction.

"Let's see, where am I?" Collin asked as he searched for a sign that would lead him back to camp.

He was in a clearing in the middle of the overgrown woods where he camped. As he looked around, he found a dirty sign post. The sign post was too dirty to read so Collin walked up to it and dusted it off. The sign read "Mossflower woods."

"Great, I'm lost in the woods with a name I have never heard of before. I knew that I shouldn't have gone on this trip!" Collin exclaimed.

As he looked down he spotted some more writing. This writing read "Redwall, 2 miles."

"Good. That should be some kind of town. I can go there and phone somebody to come and get me." Collin explained to himself.

He followed the direction to where the sign post pointed. As he ventured into the woods, the light dimmed as night fell. Collin knew he should not have stayed out this late. If only he had a better sense of direction.

Eerie noises echoed through the woods as Collin walked on. His pulse quickened. His heart raced. He could feel the adrenaline coursing though his veins. He soon began to jog. Then he ran. Then he sprinted. He raced as if the whole world was crashing down about him. As the creepy sounds grew louder, he ran faster. Questions ran through his head as he ran through the woods. Where was he? What were those noises? Was he going the right way? Would he ever reach this town called Redwall? But one question stood prominent in his mind; where had he heard the name Redwall before? Had one of his friends talked about it? Had he heard about it on T.V. or at the movies? Had he read about it some where? No matter, he would soon find out.

Collin began to slow down as his senses came back to him. Why was he running? After all, there was no reason to be scared of only noises, right? He pulled out his water bottle from his orange back pack. He took a deep swig from it as he calmed himself down. Collin reached into his pack for his compass to make sure that he was going in the right direction.

He stood up, put on his back pack and started walking again. He kept a slow and steady pace so that he would not be anymore tired than he was right now when he reached Redwall. _Maybe there is a Holiday Inn at this "Redwall",_ thought Collin.

Just then Collin heard crunching foot steps on the leaves. Crunch, crunch, crunch. The noise got louder. Crunch, crunch, crunch. And louder. Crunch, crunch, crunch. And louder until Collin could see the source or the noise. There were three, hooded figures headed his way. Collin picked up his walking stick to defend himself. He did not know if these people were friendly.

As they emerged from the brush, the lead person drew a short sword. _Get ready to rumble, _Collin though. It was a good thing that the staff Collin had was thick. That way, Collin could block heavy blows.

Collin has a strange hobby. His favorite thing to do was to watch martial arts movies. He watched them so much in fact, that he could repeat the stunts that the actors performed. Especially the stunts involving staffs.

Collin shouldered his walking stick as the first hooded enemy came. He knocked him out cold with a swift swing of the staff to his head. The next enemy was much quicker. The hooded attacker struck at Collin's left, but Collin blocked just in time. Collin finished this one off with a swift blow to the neck. The third enemy charged. Collin was much to smart for this. As Collin's assailant charged, Collin merely moved a foot to his right, and tripped the hooded fiend with his mighty walking stick. He K.O.ed this one with a big smack to the back of its head.

It was now time to find out who this attacker was. Collin approached the knocked-out body of his opponent. He first took his short sword. He did not know if there were more of these goons around. He turned the body over and removed the hood. Collin received quite a shock when he saw his attacker's face. Collin was staring right at the face of a human sized rat!


	3. Mossflower Woods

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter two: Mossflower woods

Collin could not believe his eyes. He had heard of big rats, but this was inconceivable.

"Please let me be dreaming. Oh please, please let me be dreaming!" Collin whimpered frantically.

But this was no dream. Collin was out in the middle of nowhere, separated from his friends. To make things worse, these woods were filled with murderous, giant rats! How was he ever going to survive? He had a short sword, but that would not help him if he ran into an army of these things. Maybe he could make it to Redwall and find a way out of here.

Collin gathered his belongings quickly. He took a sword belt and scabbard from his fallen attacker and strapped them on as fast as possible. After checking his bearings, he set off to Redwall at a vastly quickened pace.

As Collin raced on, the night grew darker. This was not in Collin's favor, because Collin had bad night vision.

As Collin ran along, he heard footsteps following him. He decided to try and lose his follower. Collin dashed through bushes, dove over fallen tree trunks and weaved through rocks. But it was no use. His follower kept coming. Collin had no other option. He had to stand and fight.

Collin spun around and drew his weapon, only to find that he had been dragging a tree branch. It had all been in his mind. _Maybe those rat attackers were just my imagination too,_ Collin thought to himself. _Maybe they were just human goons_. Whatever they were, Collin had to continue on to Redwall.

When Collin finally reached Redwall, he was very surprised. Redwall was more like a fort than a town. Collin cautiously approached the gates.

The gatekeeper immediately noticed Collin.

"Hey, who goes there?" shouted the gatekeeper.

"Collin Dowling." Collin replied.

"Can I enter so that I can use your phone, or spend the night?" Collin shouted back.

"What are you talking about? You are welcome to spend the night, but what is this thing you call a phone?" replied the gatekeeper in the same loud tone.

Who was this guy? Didn't he know what a telephone was? Collin accepted this strange man's offer, and the gates opened.

As Collin walked in, he stopped dead in his tracks. Right in front of him, was a human sized otter!

"What's a gentilbeast like yourself doin' out ere so late?" asked the otter.

Unfortunately, Collin was unable to answer his question. He had fainted from sheer shock.

Author comment: A big apology to everyone reading about some of the errors in the chapters. I have gone back and edited a few as well as this one. I hope you like the new and improved chapters.


	4. Where Am I?

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 3: Where am I?

Collin awoke, his head spinning. He was on a bed in a large room, a type of sickbay as far as he could tell. He looked over and found that his backpack, walking staff, and short sword were on the table next to him.

He glanced around and searched for a door to exit the room. Collin had suddenly remembered what had happened. Could it have been real? Real or not, Collin had to find a way out of this madhouse.

Collin found a door at the far corner of the room. He picked up his backpack and weapons and slowly crept to the door. As he got closer, he could hear people talking outside of the door. Collin decided to listen in on the conversation.

"What type of creature do you s'pose he is?" asked the first voice. Collin noticed immediately who this person was. He recognized the gatekeeper's voice.

"Tell me again what happened." said an older voice. This second voice had a tone of authority. Maybe he was some type of leader.

"I was standing on sentry duty, when all of a sudden this bloke comes out of no where and asks for entry into the abbey. So I let him in like any good creature would, after asking him why he wanted to enter of course, and he faints at the near sight of me!! As if he had not seen an otter before." said the gatekeeper.

_I have seen otters, _thought Collin, _but not otters that big!_

"So I dragged him to the infirmary and then went and got you." the giant otter said.

"Do you think he is working for them?" said a third voice. This voice was female, but was loud and large. "He was carrying on of their swords."

When Collin heard this, he took a second look at his sword. The weapon was just like any other, except that there was a peculiar design in the handle. The handle had a carving of a rat's head who, strangely enough, was wearing an eye patch. This was a strange place indeed.

"Now Constance," said the older voice, "let's not jump to conclusions."

So that was the name of the bigger voice. Collin would have to remember that.

"The only way we can know for sure is to go in and ask him." said yet another voice. This voice was younger the others, but this voice clearly showed power in it, like that of a warrior.

"Well, let's go in and find out." said the gatekeeper.

"I'll give him a good bashing if he does work for those vermin!!" said Constance.

"Now now Constance, let us not be too hasty." said the old voice.

But even though old voice tried to calm down Constance, her threat was still fresh in Collin's mind. What if they did not believe him? What if they thought he did work for those rats? Collin would be prepared. He raised his stolen short sword, and prepared for the oncoming people.

The door slowly creaked open and two mice, an otter and a badger entered. The first mouse was older than the other. The other mouse was wearing a belt with a dangerous looking sword. The badger was larger than all of them, and looked menacing. All of them were wearing robes.

It was hard to tell who was more surprised; Collin or the new creatures. But Collin was defiantly the first one to react.

"Alright, freeze!!!!" Collin shouted. "None of you let that badger near me!!" he quickly added.

Constance cursed under her breath. He must have heard them talking outside the door!

"Calm down, my son." said the older mouse.

Collin had noticed that the younger mouse had taken out his sword. This made Collin's fear worse.

"Listen up," Collin said. "You let me get out of this nuthouse, and nobody gets hurt."

"You'll have to get through me first!" said the young mouse.

"Matthias, do as he says" said the old mouse.

"As you wish, father Abbot." said Matthias.

As Matthias put his sword away, he gave Constance a wink. Collin was too worried to notice. The creatures backed away to give him room.

"Good, now show me the way ou..."

Thwack

Collin's sentence was cut short. Constance had delivered a hard, but non lethal blow to Collin's head.

Collin just had one lingering question in his mind; when would he stop blacking out?


	5. Here's The Rundown

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 4: Here's the run down

"So, let me get this straight." said Collin to the Abbot.

Collin had finally awoken after being knocked out by that enormous badger. His head had been throbbing of course, but the Abbot had given Collin herbs to dull the pain. After talking to these creatures, he had found out that they were peaceful.

"Your name is Matthias, your name is Constance, and you are the Abbot." said Collin. All three of them were standing in the infirmary.

"Yes." said Matthias.

"And you're some type of warrior, and he is the leader of this abbey?" asked Collin.

"Yes." answered Matthias.

"Okay. I understand that stuff now, but what can you tell me about those rats that attacked me?" said Collin.

"We don't know much about them." answered Matthias. "All that we know for sure is that they are, or were, followers of Cluny."

"Who's Cluny? Is he a rat too?" asked Collin.

"Yes and a fierce one at that." replied Matthias. "Awhile ago, he tried to conquer Redwall Abby, and he nearly succeeded. If I had not killed him he would have enslaved or killed all who were at Redwall at the time. That was the worse fight I had ever had. Cluny was even harder to kill than that adder, Asmodeus."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Collin, "let me get this straight, you defeated an adder?"

"Yes, for this very sword I am carrying now, but I shall not go into detail." answered Matthias.

"So, what does this rat, Cluny look like?" asked Collin. "Did he by any chance have an eye patch over his left eye?"

"How did you know?!" said Matthias in amazement.

Collin handed Matthias the stolen sword. Matthias examined the handle for a few minutes. So it was true. There were still followers of Cluny around. And they were probably back for revenge.

"Now it's my turn to ask questions." said Matthias. "How did you defend yourself with just a walking stick? I am quite sure that these rats know a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat."

Collin told Matthias how he liked to watch martial arts movies. Even though it seemed difficult to Matthias to comprehend how people could make a picture move.

"I recommend a little reconnaissance mission, Matthias." said a voice from outside of the room.

Collin turned around to find out who this new voice belonged to. Standing in the doorway, was a very tall hare. His fur was an ash colored with blots of gray and brown on his underbelly. He had large feet and ears that flopped about and made it seem that they had a mind of their own. This place was just getting stranger and stranger.


	6. Recon

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 5: Recon

His name was Basil Stag Hare. He was quite a strange rabbit if anything else.

"So why do you call yourself Stag?" asked Collin as the three adventurers walked through the woods.

"Noble creatures stags." said Basil. "I always wanted to be one."

Collin kept walking despite the weirdness of Basil's statement. He walked faster so he could catch up to Matthias and talk to him. Collin still had many questions about this place called Mossflower Woods.

"Something wrong with your friend?" asked Collin. He was still perplexed by the hare's statement.

"No. He's always like that." replied Matthias.

"I don't get that dude." said Collin. Matthias gave Collin a strange look as if Collin had just spoken gibberish. Collin finally realized who he was talking to.

"That means that I don't understand him." answered Collin.

"Sometimes I don't 'get' him either." said Matthias.

It was clearer now more than ever that Matthias and Collin were becoming friends.

Suddenly, the whole group stopped. Basil raised a paw to silence them. Collin was about to ask why they had stopped, but he noticed right away. Three hooded figures were standing in front of them. Luckily, the three travelers hid behind a stout tree just in time.

As Collin looked closer, he noticed that there were more of the hooded rats. He noticed that some of them were taller then others. Perhaps they were another type of animal?

Collin's investigation was quickly ended when the three warriors heard a sound behind them. All of them quickly turned around, swords drawn. Behind them, without hoods stood three rats, two ferrets, a stoat, and a weasel. _What's next, a giant killer hamster?_ thought Collin.

Collin's first enemy charged as Collin quickly spun around. He delivered a swift elbow to his enemy's solar plexus. The rat instantly fell. His second attacker was a stoat. The stoat swung his sword like a berserker. Collin blocked to the left, then the right, then the left, than the right. This was far too easy. Collin smacked his enemy on the top of his head with the flat end of his short sword. Collin's final attacker was picked off by Matthias before he could even strike. Collin noticed other bodies on the ground, courtesy of Basil and Matthias's handiwork.

After the battle, all three of the friends looked around. The other robed figures were nowhere to be found. After much frantic searching the three of them decided to head back to the abbey. Little did they know as they walked in the front gates, four hooded creatures crept stealthily into the abbey.


	7. The Dream

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 5: The Dream

Collin was standing in a dark corridor. He walked forward until he came to a stair case. On the third step of the stair case, Collin noticed another staircase going down. He continued on as if under a spell. He then reached double doors with many iron spikes. He carefully counted the one that was thirteenth from the top and thirteenth from the left. As he pushed a spike, a stone wall to his right opened. He turned and walked through the dark threshold. In the center of the room, there stood a glass case. Within the case stood a mighty weapon. It was a katana blade, a Japanese sword he had seen a lot in martial arts movies. Behind the case stood a mouse. He was a strong mouse clad in armor and wielding the same sword as Matthias.

"Use it well, stranger." said the warrior mouse. "Use it well."

Collin instantly awoke from the strange dream. He checked his wristwatch, even though he was not sure it was accurate. It was eight o'clock. Good. Collin did not want to wake anyone up too early. Collin got dressed and made his way to Matthias's room.

After Collin found out that Matthias was not there, he made his way to the cavern hole. Collin figured that Matthias was probably eating breakfast. Collin's sense of direction had greatly improved.

Collin quickly found Matthias in the middle of eating his breakfast.

"Matthias! Quick! I have to tell you something!" said Collin

"Can't it wait, I just started eating breakfast." Matthias pleaded.

"Ok. I guess I could tell you while you eat." replied Collin. "I just had this strange dream. There was this staircase, see. And when I went down it, I saw a mouse warrior, carrying the same sword as you and..."

Collin's statement was cut short as Matthias interrupted him.

"Martin the Warrior was in this dream? Why didn't you tell me? Show me where this staircase is." said Matthias.

Collin led him to the staircase in his vision. The two of them walked down the stairway and to the door.

"Oh. This is the room where the tomb of Martin the Warrior is. If I remember correctly, if you push the center spike, these doors open." said Matthias.

"But in my dream, I pushed this spike open." Collin argued.

Collin pressed the spike indicated in his dream. The stone wall on the right of them slid open to reveal the same room in Collin's vision. The two friends ventured to the center of the room, where the glass case that held the sword stood.

"Wait!" Collin exclaimed. "There's writing on this stone."

Collin read the writing out loud.

This is the sword for the warrior

That only one can claim

The one who is not from here

The stranger is his name

It is said that he will fight a great battle

And victory shall be his

He will use this mighty sword

His destiny this is

But if this person should fail

Evil will prevail

All good from the world will be purged

If the stranger does not succeed in his task

Of stopping the scourge

So take this mighty weapon

Use it to fight your enemy from hell

Take the sword mighty one

Stranger use it well.

"Quite a strange poem." said Collin.

"I wonder who it refers to when it says 'the scourge'?" questioned Matthias.

Matthias reached for the sword, but then noticed that there was no opening in the glass.

"Let me try." said Collin.

Just then, the most peculiar thing happened. Probably the most peculiar thing Matthias had ever seen. Collin reached through the glass as if nothing was there.

After the weapon was retrieved, Collin began to question Matthias.

"So, who is this Martin fellow anyway?"

Matthias smiled and began to tell Collin what he knew about the legendary mouse warrior.


	8. The Battle on the Wall

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 6: The battle on the wall

"Sounds like quite a person." said Collin after Matthias was done with his story. The two were in the great hall. Since everyone else was out in the fields or cloisters, the two had the hall to themselves.

"Do you know how to use that sword?" asked Matthias.

"Only one way to find out." answered Collin. Collin had had the newfound weapon buckled on his back so he had to reach behind him to take it out. Collin took the sword out of its sheath.

Collin suddenly had a strange feeling. As he grasped the weapon in his hands, he felt a surge of power. He felt more alert. Collin felt as if his reflexes were good enough that he could slice a fly three ways before it hit the ground. Collin felt at one with his environment. Collin also felt strong. He felt so strong in fact, that he could lift the table in front of him. Collin also felt fast. He felt as if he could outrun a cheetah. But there was another sense Collin was felling. A felling quite unlike all the others. Collin felt intelligent. He felt more strong and strategizing than before. Collin suddenly had a strange idea.

"Matthias, do you see those stones next to you?" asked Collin.

Matthias looked down and noticed that there was a pile of stones on the floor. Why they were there, Matthias could only guess.

"Yes I see them." responded Matthias.

"What I want you to do, is to throw them at me and I will see if I can deflect them." said Collin

Matthias also had an idea

"Wait a second." said Matthias.

Matthias quickly raced out of the great hall to get someone. Matthias got the abbey's best sling otter. In fact, it was the very same otter that Collin had met when he first came to the abbey.

"Whoa! That's quite a weapon ye have there, matey." exclaimed the otter.

"Thank you, gatekeeper." replied Collin.

"The name's Orson, Collin sir." replied the otter.

As Matthias gave his instructions to Orson, Collin struck his best fighting pose. He shouldered his weapon as if he was about to fight for his life.

"Fire when ready, Orson." said Matthias.

The otter took his sling and let lose a very fast stone aimed right for Collin's head. It was a sure take out shot.

Collin concentrated. He concentrated on the spinning of the pebble, not moving until he sensed it was the right time. Time seemed to slow down to Collin, until the pebble was an inch away from his forehead. Collin raised his weapon and deflected the projectile straight on. The otter was shocked. He had never seen anyone able to block one of his best shots.

Orson began to fire mercilessly at Collin. But the result was always the same. Orson would sling a rock and Collin would block it.

Then, something happened that would go down in Redwall history. When the last stone was slung, Collin had other plans than to just block it. When the rock was close enough, Collin snatched out if the air with not so much as a flinch. He then tossed it into the air, playfully. Then Collin did the unthinkable. Collin tossed the stone in the air and hit it with his weapon just as if he was playing baseball. It was lucky for Orson that he had moved out of the way, because the force from the stone was so much that it had caused a dent the wall right next to him.

"That was amazing, Collin!!" exclaimed Matthias.

"I just can't wait to go into battle." said Collin

Collin noticed something hanging off the handle of his sword. When he took it off, he quickly realized that it was a black bandana. He tied the bandana around his forehead, just like he had seen in movies. Collin felt more ready than ever.

"C'mon. Where's this scourge I'm spose' to vanquish? I'll give him a whooping he won't soon forget." said Collin with an enthusiastic smile.

Matthias laughed at Collin's anticipation. It reminded him of himself when he first became a warrior. Then Collin laughed at his own silliness. The laughter was contagious. Soon, Orson was laughing too.

But the mirth was cut short when a rather worried rather winded mouse dashed into the great hall.

"Matthias, come quick! Four of those hooded fiends have somehow found a way into the abbey!" said the terror struck mouse.

Matthias turned to summon Collin. But before Matthias could even call Collin's name, the enthusiastic young warrior had left the hall and headed to the abbey grounds.

"C'mon. We'd better follow that young blowhard before he hurts 'imself." said Orson.

Collin was on the grounds with his weapon drawn in a flash. Who did these intruders think they were? Collin would soon show these hooded goons the meaning of a cold reception.

"Hey you, stoat face." yelled Collin.

The aggravated stoat turned around to face the exhilarated young warrior.

"Oh, so you are a stoat. Then it's not just me then. C'mon. Let's see if your fighting is better than your looks." shouted Collin.

Not only had the weapon improved his intelligence, it had also improved Collin's wit.

The enemy dashed at Collin, his sword drawn. Collin took a smooth step to his left at the last minute. How stupid were these villains?

"A bit too fast for you, am I? C'mon! I've seen better aim from a dead cow."This comment made the stoat ablaze with furry. The angry animal charged at Collin again. As Collin stepped out of the way, the stoat swing his sword. Collin blocked the mighty blow.

"Gee, smarter than you look. Not by much though." Collin said.

And with that hard hitting insult, Collin delivered an equally hard hitting punch to the stoat's head sending him straight to the ground.

Next, Collin approached his next adversary, a rat a few feet from him.

Collin jumped behind his enemy, and taped him on the shoulder. Before the confused rat had time to react, Collin delivered a swift kick to the rat's solar plexus, followed by a spinning hook kick to the enemy's neck.

Collin then spotted a rather sinister looking weasel on the abbey wall. Collin ran at full speed at this invader. He ran so fast in fact, that he ran up the very abbey wall. His enemy noticed Collin first. The weasel swung his sword repeatedly at Collin, but Collin deflected every shot.

"You afraid of heights?" asked Collin in between sword hits.

"No." answered the aggravated weasel.

Suddenly, Collin stomped his attacker's foot. He then delivered a reverse punch into the enemy's ribs. Collin then did a massive uppercut, sending the creature into the air. Collin jumped up with the weasel, and dealt a kick to his chest that sent the weasel right over the wall.

"Good." said Collin.

The enthusiastic warrior took a moment to regroup. He was shocked at the professionalism that he showed to the invaders. This gave him more confidence for the task ahead: defeating the "scourge" whoever he, she, or it was.

Collin moved to get up when a fourth attacker tried to strike his unguarded back. He rolled to the left, narrowly missing the sharpened blade of his enemy's short sword. Collin jumped to his feet and prepared to face his next enemy. Matthias ran up out of no where to assist Collin. The two warriors shouldered their powerful blades to confront their enemy.

The rat leaped backwards off the wall onto the ground. Matthias and Collin raced to the edge to see where the offending rat had landed. The sinister figure of the rat's body scurried off into the woods, as if the fall had been a mere jump.

"What do we do now?" asked Collin.

"We question the enemies." replied Matthias.

The two turned to look town onto the grounds in search of the defeated, but they had vanished as if into thin air. How could beasts such as them simply vanish? These vermin had no flying powers and obviously did not have a way in and out of the abbey that nobody knew about. There were still mysteries unknown about the abbey, but a secret known only by these vermin, these very enemies of the abbey was unspeakable. Enemies had very rarely entered the abbey, and when they had it had been through trickery and deception, not through a secret passage.

The one thing that these troops did have was stealth. They could slip in and out of the shadows unnoticed. They could be as silent as the wind on a breezeless night, and about as visible as the new moon. They had been trained meticulously by their master to carry out their tasks with silence and cunning, to never be discovered by their enemies. This was the reason they had been so poorly trained in combat. Fighting was an unwanted last resort. In their minds, if they needed to fight, they had failed.

The previous battle had not been without merit however. Collin spied a piece of parchment lying on the ground. He climbed down the stairs to investigate.

"It's a map." said Collin.

"But where is it a map of?" questioned Matthias.

"Well, this building must be the abbey, and the surrounding trees on the map must be Mossflower woods. Here's the compass, and... wait, what is that clearing there, far north of the abbey?"

"I've never seen it before, Collin. What does the dot in the center of the clearing say?"

"It says, 'Blane here' what could that mean?"

"I don't know, Collin. This is quite puzzling indeed. Any ideas?"

"I do have one idea. It always helps me when I am confused about a problem. Perhaps it would help me now."

With that, Collin dashed off to his room


	9. Medetation

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 7: Meditation

Collin took a bamboo reed mat out of his pack and spread it on the floor.

He then sat on the mat with his legs crossed. He closed his eyes, relaxed, and concentrated.

Meditation always helped Collin think. He could not remember where or when he picked it up, but it had helped him ever since. Meditation is said to clear the mind, and he needed to do that now. He had too many thoughts floating around in his head to figure out what to do.

Then the answer came to him. Collin did not know if he had drifted to sleep, but he began to drift into a dream. A strange, almost too real dream. He was flying through the air. He was so high up he had a bird's-eye-view of all the land in and around Redwall and Mossflower. Then a voice came from out of nowhere. He first thought it to be the voice of Martin the warrior but this voice was different. It had a distinguishable tone of calmness to it, yet its message was that of urgency. The voice seemed to come from one who knew much of the world, like a father when he speaks to his son.

"Seek out me, traveler. I shall be your guide to this foreign land. There are many trials ahead, but seek me out in the clearing, and they shall be all the more easier."

The background faded into darkness. Collin was again in his dormitory. He now knew what he must do. He must seek out Blane on the map that was found after the battle.

As Collin got up, he noticed a long gash running down his left arm, from the shoulder to the wrist. He must have been cut when he dodged the last rat's blow on the wall. The pain had not been felt earlier because of the adrenalin in his blood, but now the pain seared throughout his left arm without mercy. He needed to get to the sickbay.

"Well, it's all bandaged up now." said the nurse to Collin. "I have not seen many creatures injured in that way and not groaning about it. Ye must have the spirit of a warrior in you."

"Pardon?" asked Collin. He had not completely understood the mouse maid's comment.

"I said you must have the spirit of a warrior to have that much stamina. Most would be overtaken by such pain."

"But you don't understand it still hurt."

"I know that, but you just walked in here without a fuss. Most would be yelling and screaming but you didn't let the pain bother you." said the nurse. "Only true warriors can summon up that kind of strength. And that performance fought on the wall that you did awhile ago. Never seen anything like it in all my years at Redwall. You're truly something I can tell you that."

Collin was very flattered at this remark.

"Thanks. I guess I'm not sure of my own strength sometimes."

"Well you're definitely correct at that. Though I wonder. Where did you learn such skills? You don't seem like the warlike kind but you know what you are doing."

"I pick things up here and there."

And with that, Collin went to find Matthias to tell him of what he saw.

Matthias was quite puzzled about the strange premonition. He understood it about as much as Collin did. Both were pretty much left in the dark.

"Clearly," stated Matthias, "we must seek out this 'Blane' you heard in your dream."

"Matthias, I need to ask you a favor." said Collin.

"What do you want?"

"I think that we should bring Orson with us on our quest. He might be a valuable asset. I'm very sure about his sling abilities. I know that I deflected his shots, but it was still hard work."

"I guess you have a point there. Orson is one of the best sling beasts in the history of the abbey. But I must do one thing before I go."

"Name it." replied Collin.

"I must say goodbye to Cornflower."

"Cornflower?"

"Yes, my wife."

Collin smirked at this statement. Mice getting married. What next?


	10. Blane

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 8: Blane

After Collin loaded up his backpack and Cornflower had packed their haversacks with food, (with much chuckling from Collin) the group of questers set off. Every few minutes, Matthias would consult the map for directions. The group of three looked about hopefully for any sign of Blane. About a half an hour after setting off, Orson brought up an interesting topic

"Ya know, I saw the way ye fought on the wall, messmate. But I was thinking..."

"Thinking what?" Collin said out of curiosity.

"There's one thing that all great warriors have that you don't; a battle cry."

"Battle cry?" Collin was quite new to the subject.

"Ye know. Somethin' ye yell that'll strike fear into ye enemies."

"Oh"

Collin had not thought about this. What would he yell? It was not like he had been in battle before now. He did not have anything to yell. Collin figured that he would use his fighting skill to scare the enemies. Then again, a battle cry could be useful. But what would he yell. He did not want to charge into a fray sounding like a complete idiot.

But now was not the time for thinking of such things. For out of the trees came a hooded figure in the way of the three travelers. Matthias noticed the figures arm. It looked like the same kind of arm from the same kind of creature that Collin was.

"Collin, it's like you. It's... what was that word you used? Oh, human! Try to reason with it."

Collin was nervous. He did not know what to do. This person was strange to him, and he was not much of an outgoing person. What to say?

"Uhhh... hi. We were just passing through and umm... we don't want any trouble or anything we ermm... would just like to be on our way. Sooooooo... could you uhh... move? Heh heh" He said nervously, ending with worried laughter.

The figure was not cooperative. It continued to stand still in the path of the adventurers. The figure then pulled out a weapon from its cloak. It was a one foot long metal pole with a metal ball. On the metal ball were sharp metal studs which jutted out in a strange pattern. The figure gave them a gesture of a challenge

Matthias unsheathed his sword. He rushed at the stranger shouting his battle cry.

"REDWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL."

The figure charged in with an equally loud battle cry.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAA."

The two fighters closed the gap as they ran at each other. Matthias swung his sword up from its downward right position. The challenger rolled to its right, making Matthias miss by a foot. The figure mimicked Matthias's move, but he was quick to block. The two weapons pushed against each other at the two warriors fought for control. The black cloaked figure gained the upper hand and did an overhead swing at Matthias's head. He twirled his sword overhead to deflect the blow, and then he made a downward left slash which ripped the opponent's cloak off.

Collin recognized who it was. She stood about the same height as Collin. She was wearing a green T-shirt and green camouflage jeans. Her long flowing black hair billowed in the wind.

"Wait!!!!" Collin cried.

But it was too late. Matthias and the girl had become too involved in the mêlée to hear Collin's warning. The two continued their deadly dance of battle. Steel clashed with steel as the fight persisted. The girl did an upward right strike, but her blow was parried with a block from the mighty sword of Martin. Matthias swung his sword straight down, but this was blocked by an upward block from the strange weapon. The two pushed against each other's weapons as they struggled for control. The newcomer finally threw off Matthias's sword, and swung down for the kill. There was a loud clang as Collin rolled in and blocked her nearly fatal blow.

"Kylie, stop right now!"

"Collin?!!" questioned the challenger. "I've been worried about you. You went off to get firewood and just disappeared."

"Kylie, what happened after I left." asked Collin

"Well... after you left, me and some of the guys from the camp went looking for you. We weren't sure where you went, so we split into two groups. Then I met him"

"Wait, who's 'him'??"

"More importantly who is this lassie?" asked Orson

"Oh, sorry. This is Kylie. Kylie, this is Matthias and Orson"

"Pleased to meet you, Kylie!" greeted Matthias

"S'up." responded Kylie

Matthias was puzzled at Kylie's greeting.

"He hasn't exactly been taught slang yet." said Collin

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, when we went to find you, I ran into someone by the name of Blane. He gave me this weapon and taught me how to use it. I think it's called a 'mace'."

Collin stood stock still, as if stunned by something Kylie said.

"Who did you say gave you that weapon?"

"Blane. Do I have to spell it out for you? B-l-a-n..."

Kylie was cut off by Collin's sudden outburst. He ran at Kylie and shook her by the shoulders. Kylie had saved his friends and him a lot of aimless traveling. Even though they had a map, it would not help them much, because the map was very un-detailed. Collin went as if to hug Kylie, but thought it not a good idea. After all, he was being watched by his new friends as well as who knows what else was in this forest.

Collin stopped, suddenly realizing that he should act more heroic. If he was to fulfill his destiny, he had to keep his warrior's focus.

"Ahem. Alight then, let's find Blane."

"So who exactly is this 'Blane' anyway?" asked Orson.

"Well then, if I knew that, d'you think I would walk out into the woods to find him just so I could shake his hand? Or maybe I came out here to have lunch with him, or ask him directions to the nearest exit, 'cause I sure am getting tired of this funhouse...Oh c'mon. A guy can't have a laugh with his friends? I was only joking... C'mon lighten up!"

Collin was frustrated at his miserable attempt to lighten his friend's attitudes. He suddenly became serious.

"...Whatever is out there, I'll take care if it."

The band of warriors stopped in front of the clearing that waited before them. A deep voiced boomed out of the dark circle of trees around them.

"Only the destined one may come further."

_I'm pretty sure he's talking to me_, reasoned Collin. He glanced around, then back to his friends as if unsure of what to do. Kylie gave him a reassuring wink. This boosted his moral, giving him the strength and courage to venture into the clearing.

A blurry figure dropped out of the trees. The figure did two somersaults and then landed. The man was about half a foot taller then Collin was. He was wearing a red shirt which seemed similar to a Japanese kimono. His pants were black made out of a material much like rubber, accompanied by silvery boots that almost seemed to be metal. The man was armed, and had his sword belt strapped across his shoulder with the blade handle on his right shoulder. He carried a katana, the same make as Collin's only longer. Collin tried to look the man in the eyes, but noticed that the man wore black shaded sunglasses. The kind of sunglasses that make it almost impossible to see the person's eyes. He had seen these much in action movies.

"Are you the one who is destined to wield that blade?" asked the mysterious figure.

"I believe so." replied Collin.

"We shall find out. If indeed you are the one, I am sure that you are up to a little swordfight. Are you ready?" the figure asked as he unsheathed his blade.

"Go ahead, make my day!" answered Collin.

The man began with a stab which Collin blocked with a sword block to the left while pivoting to the right, just as he had seen in many movies. Collin then swung with a parallel to the ground swipe to the left swipe, but the man jumped it and did a full handspring off Collin's shoulders and behind him. Collin quickly swerved around to face his opponent. The man swung straight down but Collin blocked with an upward block. . He then countered with an upward slash but was quickly blocked by the swift sword of the mysterious man. The man shoved Collin's sword off his, pushing him back. The man then charged, sword in the air at his side. But Collin dodged and rolled to the right, going just beneath the man's sword. He got up and charged the man, sword ready for an upward slice. The man spun to his right and blocked his strike as only a true swordsman could. The man then stood in ready position with his blade.

"You are indeed a great warrior. I am satisfied with your performance. The test is over." The man then sheathed his blade and continued his conversation with Collin. "I had my doubts about you. I expected that I would need to train you much more, but it seems my first guess has been disproved."

"What do you mean? I thought you were fighting me to see if I was the...'destined one'" asked Collin.

"I knew from the start that you were the destined one. Only he would have known where that weapon was. It is said that the warrior's spirit will only reveal the location of the magnificent blade to the true destined one. That is at least how it has been put in legends." Explained the man.

"But who are you? How do you know these legends?"

"I am Blane. As for the second question, I partly made up the legends. You see, I am very familiar with that weapon you carry. I made it myself in the land that I come from. One day, a wise man came to me and told me that the sword that I had crafted shall serve a great purpose. The weapon shall be the one thing that stands between a world's preservation, and a world's demise. The man then blessed the blade with some kind of power and hid it in this realm. I came here to find it. That was five years ago."

"What do you mean by 'other realm'?" asked Matthias.

"I mean to say that I am not from this world. I am from a place 'far away' so- to -speak. What you might call another world or another reality. Just as Collin is not from this world as well."

"So this is what this place is? Another reality different from mine?"

"Yes. This is quite possibly the furthest thing from your reality. But there is more to the legend then you simply destroying the ultimate evil. Your task is greater, and serves a wider purpose. The weapon which you wield is made out of an ore known as Soulite. Soulite is a metal that is born from a rock that falls from the sky. Yours is not the only weapon comprised of this metal. There is said to be many weapons that are comprised of this sacred ore. Kylie wields one of these legendary weapons, as does Matthias."

Matthias looked surprised that he had been carrying such a weapon.

"When the badger lord Boar the Fighter repaired Martin's sword, he used metal from one of these fallen rocks, thus making the blade razor sharp and deadly."

"But what exactly makes Soulite so special?" asked Kylie, who had been silent all this time.

"I am afraid I am not the person to answer that question. The secret of Soulite is quite a strange one indeed." Blane looked off into space as if seeking the answer. "But for now, we should focus on the task at hand. From what I have seen from your previous demonstration, I can tell that you will not need any extensive training from me. This is good, because out time is running out. You will train along the way and alongside the other weapon masters. We shall now begin our journey. Come..."

Blane waved to them to follow him into a narrow pathway between the tall trees. As the group followed, Collin noticed that the forest around him seemed less hostile now and friendlier. He breathed in the fresh forest air and looked at the luscious, green trees around him. This seemed like a rather pleasant place to live.

The group of warriors finally came to a second clearing, one that seemed to serve as Blane's dwelling. The clearing was square and had many objects for normal living, though none of them gave a definite indication of where Blane was from. In the near corner stood a table with a teapot and teacups which seemed to be English but had oriental designs on them. A little further on to the right was a bamboo mat and an incense burner. At the end of the clearing stood a collapsible stove which seemed like a stove you would find in an old-fashioned kitchen. In the right far corner stood what looked like a study desk piled high with various metal instruments. At the end of the clearing area stood a cot used for sleeping.

Blane went on to the desk as the others gawked and stared around at the clearing. He searched through the many instruments until he came across one that he was looking for. It was a silver whistle, shaped the same as a dog whistle. It did not look like anything special but Blane looked at it as if it radiated a strange power. He brought the silver whistle to his lips and gave a faint blow. The sound that was generated was anything _but_ faint. It was a loud screech. A sound that Collin recognized as...

"An eagle's cry..."

"Collin, what do you suppose he's doing?" asked Matthias

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Suddenly, the group heard a whooshing sound from above the trees. To Collin and Matthias's amazement, the whistle had called upon a great eagle. The monolith of a bird dropped from the sky, sending dirt and debris swirling around them as if they were in a snow globe. Matthias expected the bird would attack, but the eagle seemed calm and did not appear hostile. Blane calmly walked up to the bird, and rubbed its beak affectionately.

"Blane, what is this?" Kylie managed to ask through her excited laughter.

"It is the first thing I encountered when I reached this world. It is quite a remarkable specimen, even for this reality. I think this bird may be from another world as well."

"So... why did yer call it?" asked Orson.

"For travel. You see, I managed to domesticate this creature shortly after I defeated it. It was a long fight but after a few months, we became friends

so-to-speak. But enough of that. We will need her for travel, because the weapon masters which we find will need to bring warriors of their tribe back here while they help us seek out more of the weapon masters. You see, the coming battle shall not be a simple one-on-one skirmish. It will quite possibly be a full-blown war. The tribes people will need to send their best warriors to help."

"Blane, how are we going to travel?" Matthias asked

"Simple. We will be using another way of flight. Come..."

Blane lead the group into yet another clearing where a giant dirigible resided. Collin and Kylie looked excited. Matthias looked fascinated. Orson looked sick.

"I was also a balloonist in my reality." said Blane


	11. Journey to Nowhere

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 9

Journey to Nowhere

Collin looked out the window at the large abyss of water flowing below. The sun set in the distant west, marking the end of another day in the air. He and his friends had been air born for four days now.

The dirigible that they rode in consisted of one long chamber. The pilot's area was located at the front with many strange, metallic instruments spinning around or emitting strange noises, smells and occasionally a puff of blue smoke every so often. Blane spent most of his time at the highly-polished oak ships wheel that served as the helm. The cabin was padded with red carpet and had red furniture throughout it that served as beds at night. The exit was at the rear of the craft next to the restroom. Beautifully crafted gold lamps hung from the walls. _For a dirigible_, Collin thought, _this is pretty fancy. _The balloon on the craft was not as gigantic as a zeppelin's but was longer that a normal balloon's making it easy for it to fit into small clearings.

For the four days that they were in the air, the only thing in sight was endless water. As far as Collin could tell, they were heading west. Day after day, Blane looked to be surer of where he was going. It seemed that the only map to their destination was inside Blane's mind.

During the day, the group had their own activities to keep them occupied. Matthias and Collin taught each other sword moves. When Orson got over his air sickness, he practiced his projectile skills. It soon became evident to the crew that Orson was skilled with any throwing or shooting weapon. One day when Blane was not busy at the flight controls, he thought that he would give Orson a little test.

He walked over to one of the nearby walls. He looked around it until he found what he wanted. Blane placed a firm punch on a dragon design on the wall. The punch caused the square panel to fall from the wall.

The compartment did not hold anything special except for a small black case. Blane opened it and took out five sharp, steel, star-shaped implements. Collin recognized them as Japanese throwing stars. He then picked up the fallen piece of wall and turned it around to show a target board which he placed firmly in the opening to the compartment, sealing it again. He then took several steps back, and aimed a throw or the stars at the target.

_Fwhaaat! Ffwhaaat! Fffwhaaaat!_

Two of the stars hit near the center, and the third hit dead on. He retrieved the stars and then approached Orson.

"Now, you try."

Orson looked nervous at first, but he quickly recovered. He aimed his throws almost identical to the way Blane aimed his. However, the shots hit in a different place.

_Fwhaaat! Fwhaat! Fwhaaat!_

All three of the stars hit virtually the same spot...dead center. Blane walked up to the target board to investigate the place where the stars hit. He took off his glasses and leaded in close to the center of the target board. As he returned upright, he looked visibly impressed.

"Excellent work, my friend!" he said as he held out the box of stars. "Here, take them as a gift."

Orson was thankful for his new weapons and began to practice more with them.

Kylie would practice with her mace for about an hour each day but she usually spent her time on the small balcony that jutted only a few feet from the dirigible. Collin would watch her sitting there, her long black hair billowing in the sea breeze, as she looked down at the immense ocean below her. Collin could never quite get up the nerve to go and stand by her at that ledge.

"Strange, isn't it Matthias," commented Orson one day, as he watched Collin,"that even the bravest of warriors can be scared of the same thing normal people are?"

Orson thought that he should help his new friend with his problem. One day he took out his small flute and started to play a very emotional ditty to set the mood. When he saw that this did not encourage him, he approached Collin directly.

"Ah, 'tis a beautiful day, isn't it Collin?"

"Yes" said Collin dreamily, paying almost no attention to Orson.

"But I thinks that there's something that yew find more beautiful that this evenin' weather."

"Oh really? What would that be?" asked Collin, suddenly interested.

Orson answered with only one word.

"Her."

"What?"

"Oh come off it, Collin. I know as well as ye do that you have a certain amount of affection towards that fine lassie."

"But how..."

"Now, now, let's not get into hows right now. I just happen to notice that particular glint in your eye that ye get when ever yew sees her. I should know. I was in love once..." Orson sighed and trailed off, but Collin paid not notice. He just continued to stare quizzically at the otter.

"Well, let's say hypothetically that I am in love with Kylie. What do you want me to do about it?"

"What I want yew to do is ta go over there and talk to her. That's all."

"Oh alright."

Collin summed up his courage and walked over to where Kylie was standing at the balcony.

"So...nice weather, huh?"

"Yea." said Kylie simply.

"We've been up in the air for how long now?"

"I think about five days."

"Oh. It's hard to keep track sometimes, yaw know?" Collin said. He looked to his left and right and nodded to himself, once again gaining confidence.

"So ah... what exactly did you guys do while I was gone?" asked Collin

"Well, first we joked about how hard it was to take you camping." Kylie giggled. "Then we started to notice that you had been gone awhile. I was really worried about you, you know? Out of everyone there, no one seemed to care more about you than I did. 'What if he's hurt? What if he fell in the lake' I said to the others. None of them thought that that could happen, but I was genuinely concerned for you. Then we split into groups. Mike, Rob, and Steve went one way, Kent, Sharon, Stephan, and I went the other. At some point, I got separated and ran into Blane at his camp. He was really nice to me, and kept asking questions about you. I guess I know why now, seeing as how you're some kind of chosen warrior..." she trailed off. "But through it all I wanted nothing more than to find you. To see you again. If anything had happened to you, I would never be able to forgive myself. I was the one who finally convinced you to go on this trip. Everything that would happen to you would be my responsibility. But now...I'm just glad to be with you. Know what I mean?"

"Yea." said Collin, amazed. "You've been my friend for as long as I can remember, and I never knew that you felt that way. Kylie, let's make a promise."

"What kind of promise?"

"Let's promise to make it through this thing together, and alive. We need to make it through so you can keep telling me things I don't know about you, and so that I can do the same. What do ya say, deal?"

"Deal!"

"Well then, that's settled. Now I'm just wondering one thing. What ever happened to the others?"

Collin's question went unanswered as the dirigible went on through the air. Far below the sea flowed by it reflected the setting sun in the distance. Tomorrow would be a new day, one of adventure and mystery. But for now, the ship merely went on into the setting sun, unnoticed by the fish and creatures of the sea.


	12. The Chosen Challenges the Champion

The Samurai of Redwall

Author notes: Thanks for the reviews. As far as typos, I will try to correct them and replace the original chapter with a revised copy. I will do this as soon s I can. Next, I believe that the anon. reviews blocker has been turned off but I will also check that as well. Thirdly, the main reason there is a constant use of pronouns is that it felt awkward to continually write, "Collin did this...Collin did that". However, I will try to fix that problem. As for the fact of Collin's hobby of watching a lot of martial arts movies, this piece of information is vital to other parts of the story that the part involving Collin's first conflict. He is not a person who has learned by the way of the sword, nor did he have a master to teach him combat. But through watching the movies and performing the stunts on his own, Collin has found a way to make himself formidable in a fight. It would be a boring story if he couldn't fight properly wouldn't it? Anyway, enough with the technical stuff and on with the story...

Chapter 12:

The Chosen Challenges the Champion

It had happened almost as suddenly as the idea for it had popped into Collin's head. The light that drifted in through the windows of the dirigible glinted off the metal on Matthias's sword as he faced Collin. Both were in their battle poses, ready to strike. Even now as the duel began Collin couldn't help but let his mind drift to how this started which he technically was not supposed to do according to one of the rules of being a warrior. "A true warrior is always focused on the task at hand" Blane had said to Collin once as they were going through short exercises of concentration. But even with Blane's words humming in Collin's mind, he remembered back to this morning...

Collin had just awoken as the sun had risen. He glanced around the cabin at the other sleeping figures. All of the dirigible's passengers were unconscious except for Blane, who always seemed to be at the helm. Blane diverted his gave from the horizon for a moment to take out a small flask from his pocket. He took a sip of it, looked revived, then turned back to the helm. Collin had reasoned that Blane had some kind of mixture that would help keep him up without much sleep.

Collin rummaged around in his backpack, finally finding what he wanted. He pulled out a small leather sack, unsealed it by untying the string around it, and dumped the contents out onto the carpeted floor. A sharpening stone, carving knife, can of metal polish, and a roll of thick black string spilled out onto the floor. Collin snatched up the sharpening stone and began to sharpen the edge of his sword, though it already seemed sharp enough. After honing his blade for a few minutes, he then removed the lid from the can of polish, took out an old rag that was still in the leather sack, scooped up a glob of the polish with the rag, and began to polish his blade. It was during this moment that Collin remembered another or Blane's wise words. "A warrior must not only keep his blade sharpened, but must also keep his skill and mind sharpened as well". Reflecting on Blane's advice he though of a perfect way to "keep his skill sharpened".

It would be in the simple form of a contest. A duel but one in which none of the combatants would be harmed. Since Collin had already battled Blane, he had it set in his mind to challenge the only other swordsman onboard...Matthias. They had often practiced their craft together by showing each other sword moves, but this would generate far more experience for the both of them. The main goal of the contest would be to force the opponent to the ground without slicing him or killing him with their blades. By this method, they would be able to practice somewhat safely, provided neither of them missed blocking a sword move.

As soon as Matthias arose that morning, Collin brought up his idea to him. Collin expected Matthias to be skeptical on the matter, but surprisingly Matthias was almost fully wiling to participate.

"But suppose you or I miss blocking a sword swing?" queried Collin

"Nonsense! I have seen your skill Collin, and I believe that almost none could equal your defensive skill. As for myself, a seasoned warrior the likes of me would be able to block almost any move you made. Besides, we would both take care not to swing in such a damaging way, knowing that it might harm the other. Am I correct in assuming this?" responded Matthias.

Collin shook his head. Even though he was the one who had made the challenge, he felt fear rise within him. The fear of either of them getting hurt. After all, who could ever be certain of the outcome of a battle...?

And so the challenge was carried out. The two warriors stood poised for battle, adrenaline coursing through their veins. Matthias would twitch with his left arm and Collin would make ad if to block a blow to his right. Neither one of them wanted to make the first move.

After about twenty seconds of waiting, Collin made his move. He charged with his sword overhead at Matthias. The mouse warrior swung upward deflecting the blow and knocking his opponent off balance. Matthias then made a parallel to the ground swipe to the left, which was blocked by Collin's blade. It was now Collin's turn to counter. He swung upwards while twisting his body around to his left. Matthias moved to his left, dodging the swing. Collin finished his complete 180-degree twirl with his sword in a raised position, and brought the katana town in a diagonal arc to his lower left. Matthias again dodged this and hit Collin's sword aside with Martin the Warrior's famed blade. Matthias began to use stabs to Collin's chest, much like a fencer. Collin spun out of the way of the first five of these then locked blades with Matthias on the sixth stab. Collin slid his sword down the length of his opponent's blade. Matthias, quickly recognizing the move, brought the sword's crosstree spinning to the place the blade would end up. Collin moved his katana down so that his sword's handle would touch Matthias's. Collin then brought his sword up, knocking Matthias's sword out of his hands.

The sword point had buried itself in the carpeted floor of the cabin. Their was utter silence in the room as Kylie, Orson and Blane (taking a break from flying) watched the duel. Collin motioned for Matthias to retrieve his blade. After doing so, the two resumed combat. Both Collin and Matthias swung their blades fiercely against each other. The result was highly unexpected.

Both blades began to emanate a low hum. Then the weapons began to glow white until their light was at a blinding volume. The swords repelled each other and swung to opposite sides or the cabin, shooting gigantic sparks as they flew. After a few moments of separation, the swords were once again silent.

"What the heck was that!" were the first words out of Kylie's mouth upon witnessing these events.

"I believe that we now know a property of Soulite." replied Blane. "It appears that when to blades or weapons created of Soulite are brought together with great force, the end result is a reaction that repels the two weapons from each other. I must record this."

"Well then, I guess it'll be easier to locate the weapon masters now." said Collin

"I do not think so. You see, in order to achieve the same results, you would have to make that identical sword move while you were fighting your opponent. This only makes our journey harder, as we now know that you will now have to have the other weapon masters in combat." said Blane as he searched for his notebook.

"I'd say we have a hard journey ahead of us. A hard journey indeed." added Orson, grimly.


	13. On Solid Ground

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 13

On solid ground.

It was eight-o'clock when the dirigible finally touched down on the ground. The sudden thud of the craft hitting the earth startled all of the crew that were awake and woke up those who were sleeping. Kylie was the first to her feet. She approached Blane to ask him about their current situation.

"Have we finally landed?"

"Yes." was Blane's only answer.

"Where are we exactly?"

"There are some things that you must find out for yourself. Come, we shall get the others so that we can explore our surroundings."

The two went about the cabin to check on those who they thought were sleeping. After all of the passengers were revived, Blane brought them to the exit at the back of the craft for departure. Before doing so, he handed heavy jackets to all of the crew. They were first reluctant to take them because it had been comfortably warm in the dirigible since the day they had departed from Mossflower country. However, Blane insisted that the group wear the jackets.

After everyone had their jackets on, Blane finally opened the door. As the door opened, a small staircase shot out beneath it to rest on the snow covered earth with a dull crunch. The five travelers climbed down the stairs and took stock of their new surroundings.

Collin looked all around him. To his left, right, back and front the ground was covered in snow. In the distance he saw snow covered hills. Beyond that he saw snow capped mountains. The clearing that they were in was partially surrounded by some low bushes and pine trees.

Unknown to the travelers, three figures watched them from the foliage.

"Who are they? What are they doing here?" asked one of the figures

"Who cares? Come, let us ambush them. Our tribe has had no meat for many days now." said another.

"Nygru, what kind of fool are you? Can you not see that these beings are not prey?" said the third figure.

"Why do you say this, brother?" questioned Nygru.

"Must I explain everything to you? Firstly, they are not the kind of creatures we hunt, nor are they causing trouble. Now if they were one or the other of these that would justify an ambushing. Secondly, the mouse and the otter both wear the habits of the order of the legendary abbey of Redwall. Have you been so quick to forget the sacred pledge? 'No creature shall harm another creature that wears a habit of the order, for the creature in question is a peaceful being that wishes no harm to any, and rather wishes to heal the injured, and help the weak'. Are you so quick to forget what Janyu had told our tribe?"

"Perhaps I would not have forgotten if he was still here today." Nygru replied rudely.

The third figure spoke again to Nygru. "My brother, none more than I regret the loss of Janyu. But we must go on and remember his wisdom."

Nygru spoke again. "Why should I bother taking your advice? Was it not by your judgment that the tribe had suffered such a loss?"

The first figure cut into the conversation. "Excuse me, but if members of 'the order' mean no harm to other creatures, why is it that the mouse carries a sword? And that strange other creature carries one as well."

The third figure looked at what the first was pointing at. His eyes widened as he remembered something.

_Are the legends coming true?_ thought the creature to himself. He quickly turned and gave orders to the other two.

"Quick, Zanan, Nygru, go back to the tribe and tell them that we have company."

"Do you mean that you want us to tell them there are hostile beasts here?" asked Zanan.

"No, that is not what I want you two to do. Go back to the tribe and tell them to prepare to welcome the new arrivals with hospitality and not with vice."

"But-"

"Do it. Do not worry, brothers, I know what I am doing."

Zanan and Nygru left, leaving the third figure alone. The third figure picked up a wooden staff from beside him.

"It is time to see if I am right..."

Collin and the others were walking along the pathway in front of them with Collin out in front and Orson bringing up the rear. Suddenly, Collin saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was a tall, gray blur, moving swiftly among the bushes. He turned to the front of him to find that it had leapt out of the bushes and was standing in the way of the path. It stood slightly taller that Collin, its muscular figure covered in thick, gray fur. A bushy tail jutted out from the back of it. Its ears were perked up, taking in every sound for miles. Its snout was pointed, with tufts of fur jutting out on each cheek. But its eyes were different. Its blue eyes seemed to radiate a mysterious air that Collin could not explain nor understand. They seemed to show courage, concentration, joy, friendliness, and anticipation all at once. The creature that stood in Collins path was a wolf.

The wolf took up his staff and pointed at the travelers with it. Matthias readied his hand to draw his sword, but Collin stopped him.

"He seems to only want me. Look at how he is gesturing with his staff. Stand down, I'll handle this."

With that, Collin approached the wolf. The challenger motioned for Collin to draw his weapon. Collin did so. The wolf then gestured to him to take the first hit. Collin rushed at his target, his katana grasped at his side. The wolf nimbly spun to one side, allowing the unaware Collin to dash past him. Turning around, Collin jogged at his foe this time, making sure that he would not be fooled again. Collin stabbed with his sword. The wolf pivoted out of the way and pushed forward with his staff, lodging Collin's blade into the wood of the staff. The wolf then threw the sword off of his weapon, causing Collin to fall to the ground. He stood up and again charged his opponent, this time slashing left and right. The wolf dodged all of his swipes with simple turns slightly to the right and left. He completely moved out of the way of Collin's third blow and pushed him forward, again causing him to fall on the ground.

Arising again, Collin had begun to notice a pattern. The wolf seemed to know how to block moves that were easily defined. However, if Collin were to feint a sword move and instead use a different one, he might be able to catch his enemy off guard. Collin ran at the wolf again and made as if to swing the sword down to his lower left side. The wolf went to block it. Seeing his opportunity, Collin swung his sword in the opposite direction, knocking his enemy off balance. He then kicked the wolf to the ground and brought the katana point to face the wolf's neck.

There was something strange about the wolf's eyes that made Collin respect it. No matter what was happening, even when he had his sword point threatening to dig into its throat, its eyes seemed calm.

Collin soon learned that this calm look was justified, for within a few seconds, the wolf had found a way out if his predicament. The wolf brought his staff up in a right arc, knocking the sword aside. The wolf then sprang up and took a battle pose. It then stood at ease.

"Forgive me. I only fought you to see if you were the one that I have heard of. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Cuiasodo."

Collin had one lingering question on his mind, even after that hard battle:

_Why is everyone testing me like this?_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Ok, now it's time to answer questions.

First, a question from Rinkul. "Why did Collin faint at the end of chapter 2?"

Well, Rinkul, not to sound rude but I think I would faint too if I had just seen a human-sized otter, just because of the pure shock. I mean, come on! How many times do you see that everyday?

The next question is also from Rinkul. "Why would Collin think defeating an adder was a great feat?"

Well, since Collin has seen a human-sized rat, mouse, otter, and badger since visiting this dimension, he pretty much figured that an adder would be just as big, if not bigger. And thinking of a mouse killing an adder (while in the wild of _our_ universe mice normally fall prey to them) would be kind of like thinking about a bird kicking the crap out of a cat. And I don't think that leather boots are going to help against a giant adder, unless of course you happen to have a boot as big as you are.

Well that raps it up. As always, keep reviewing and I'll keep trying to do my best to answer your questions and improve the story. Ta ta! Oh and sorry if I came off a bit rude there, Rinkul.


	14. Wolf Hospitality

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 13: Wolf Hospitality

Seeing the lifestyle of the wolves had indeed been a strange experience for Collin. After being given a short tour of the cave dwelling by Cuiasodo, the travelers had been lead to the dining area. In front of them was a long stone table, where all of the wolves were seated. Matthias searched around for silverware, but found that there was none at the table. Cuiasodo noticed Matthias's look of puzzlement and reached into a pouch at his hip.

"Here, take my knife. It is not much but it will have to do. You see, we often eat with out paws. We are not used to guests or visitors so that is why there is an absence of silverware."

"Hey, um Cooi… Kwe… kinshaw… aw heck, what was your name again?" asked Collin.

"Cuiasodo." the wolf said calmly.

"Yeah, um I was wondering…could I be excused to go back to the zeppelin to get some silverware out of my pack? I just think it would be easier if I got some utensils for everyone."

"By all means, retrieve what you must. But be back quickly."

Collin got up and slowly turned for the cavern that lead out of the cave. He could have sworn that he saw a mischievous glint in Cuiasodo's eyes as he left.

Kylie needed to ask the wolf a question as well. "Hey Cuiasodo, could you tell me where…huh? Where'd he go?"

Kylie's question went unanswered. No one had seen him leave, but somehow Cuiasodo had vanished.

Collin was walking alone on the snowy path to the zeppelin. His mind was full of many thoughts, some comforting and some concerning. Collin has always thought the idea of him being some kind of chosen warrior was neat, but the full reality of it had never struck him. He had never realized the untold power that he could posses, the skills that his katana could allow him to use. He had been given the gift of a keen intellect by the sword as well as speed and gracefulness. This coupled with Collin's self taught martial arts skills could, if used correctly, make him one of the most powerful warriors in this or his world.

But with these thoughts, others lingered. Surely Collin was not as invincible as the legends suggested? He had technically held his own in battles with Blane, Matthias and Cuiasodo and they were definitely experts, but all of those battles did not exactly end with a win for Collin. Blane had stopped the battle because he was satisfied with Collin's skills, Cuiasodo had generally done the same thing that Blane did, and the match with Matthias had only ended due to the volatile nature of a Soulite weapon when it comes in contact with another Soulite weapon. Blane could have eviscerated Collin if he had wanted to, Matthias would have easily run him through if it had been a real fight, and Cuiasodo would have worn him down to exhaustion. Did this mean that all of his skill amounted to nothing?

And what of the Scourge that he was 'destined' to fight? Who or what was it? How powerful was he/she/it? The poem on the case for the Soulite katana made the Scourge sound like the ultimate evil. If Collin could not beat Blane, Matthias and Cuiasodo for real, how was he going to kill a mega-bad guy?

"You cannot let doubt be your master."

Collin turned around with a start. Cuiasodo was right behind him.

"How did you get here do fast? Wait, never mind that, how did you know what I was thinking?"

"I saw it in your face when I was watching from the bushes just now. You were thinking about the burden of being the Destined One, were you not?"

Collin nodded.

"No…it was your eyes."

Collin looked puzzled. "Hm?"

"I saw the look of doubt in your eyes. You can learn a lot from a person by just looking into their eyes. They give away emotion, behavior and even some fragments of the past. They might even give away an opponent's next moves in a fight. Looking into an enemy's eyes during a battle can give you the upper hand if you know how to interoperate their looks. The ability is a powerfull ally and an unimaginable foe if your enemy knows how to use it."

"So that explains how you dodged all of my attacks earlier."

"Not exactly. Some of your muscle movement in battle is a bit spasmodic which makes it easy to define certain attack moves." Cuiasodo then chuckled to himself. "Hmhm, but you had me when you feinted that last slice. Collin, make no mistake that you are a great warrior and that you are quite fit for your task."

Collin shrugged and looked at the ground. "But how do you know that for sure."

"It's in your eyes. When I first saw them, I could tell that they were warrior eyes. But they weren't killer eyes. There is a big difference between warriors and killers. A warrior fights for a noble purpose but a killer simple takes life from other creatures. Purpose and values are what separate warriors from killers." Cuiasodo extended a paw toward Collin. "Come, we should head back to the cave."

"I still have to get the silverware."

"Make it quick, then." Cuiasodo said anxiously. "We cannot keep Alpha Evtee waiting."

A few minutes later, the pair was back in the cave, waiting for the meal to begin. Several wolves began setting plates of various unidentifiable vegetables and meats.

A wolf larger than the others, presumably their leader sat down at one end of the table. Collin wasn't sure, but he though he saw Cuiasodo glare at the wolf and growl a bit. Collin was expecting the wolf to make some sort of speech or say grace by the way he sat, but he merely gestured with his right paw and the meal began.

There had been many jokes about wolves being messy eaters, but Collin had only thought that that was what they were; jokes. It was actually true, for the most part. Most of the wolves said what looked like a whispered prayer, some carrying on longer than others, and then dove into their meal. Some of the wolves ate with their bare paws, getting a great deal of the small layer of slime the raw meat contained, other's ate snout first, wolfing (literally) their meal down.

However, some of the other wolves seemed a bit more refined in their manner, cooking their meat on long forks that were put in to the fires that had actually been set on the stone table for that very purpose. These wolves usually ate a bit more slowly but with the same ferocity and without utensils.

"A great deal of my people like to eat their meat raw, but others of us, such as the tribe elders like to cook their meat." Cuiasodo explained. "I assume that you want to do the same. Here."

He handed them all the long forks that the other wolves cooking their meat had been using. After awhile, the group of travelers was enjoying their cooked meat. Halfway through the meal, Collin couldn't resist a question.

"Hey, Cooey, you don't mind if I call you that, do you?"

The wolf shook his head.

"Cooey, what exactly is this darker meat?"

The meat to which he had referred to was darker in color and thicker in consistency than the fish. It looked as if it was beef, but Collin knew that that was not what it was. _Unless there are cows here_ he though to himself.

Cuiasodo swallowed and answered. "That is rat meat."

Collin immediately stopped cutting the meat and laid his fork and knife down on the plate. Kylie pulled a sick look and excused herself to spit out the piece of meat in her mouth and presumably lose the rest of her dinner in the process. Matthias, who had only eaten the fish, pushed his plate away from himself, a stone look about his features. Orson muttered under his breath "Good thing I only opted for the fish and the ale." As a matter of fact, Orson looked a bit flushed as a result of drinking a bit too many cups of ale. By the way he swayed, he seemed drunk. Blane, on the other hand, carried on eating his meal, rat meat and all.

Collin was the first to start talking again. His sentence was slow as he stressed each word, like a parent would do to their child when trying to get an explanation out of them. "What…is the rat meat…doing…on our plates?"

Cuiasodo looked strangely at the group but explained anyway. "Whenever a group of vermin, say, rats, are causing trouble, we take it upon ourselves to rid our land of it. For extra use we use their remains as food."

"But isn't that a little…um…"

"Barbaric and savage?" Matthias finished Collin's sentence.

To Collin's surprise, Cuiasodo did not look offended. Instead he looked a bit ashamed. "Yes, I know it is a bit extreme. I personally believe that death is unnecessary, even for foebeasts. I only eat the fish and plants at meals like this myself. It is an old habit of our tribe. When our old leader, Janyu was in power, he did his best to guide our tribe away from such things. But I fear that Evtee had halted such progress and even gone so far as to drag us back, thus making the efforts of Janyu insignificant." His voice showed hate at the mention of Evtee. Evtee must have been the leader.

'But, what happened to Janyu?" asked Kylie

"Janyu was my father. He died and I have blamed for his demise even now."

Cuiasodo stared miserably at the stone table. Kylie regretted asking the question, but Collin persisted. He still needed to know more.

"Cooey, I know it makes you sad, but maybe it would help to talk about it. Could you tell us what happened."

Cuiasodo stifled back a sob and nodded. "Very well. It all started about two years ago…"


	15. Past Revealed

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 14: Past Revealed

"As I said before, Janyu was a most wise and honorable leader. He led the pack with peace and diplomacy. He was an expert at solving problems with words rather than violence. Janyu knew many tales and folklore about our world. He knew about the large, red sandstone abbey that you, Matthias, call home. He also knew a great deal about Mossflower and the surrounding lands. Often times, he would tell us tales of wisdom that he had acquired from nobeast knew where.

"As you may have guessed, our pack lived peacefully. There were no real conflicts within our pack, and Janyu was never challenged for his position as Alpha."

Cuiasodo noticed that Collin and the others looked confused. "Alpha is the title we give to the leader of the pack. In order for another beast to become Alpha, a challenge must be brought forth to the current Alpha. It is normally a challenge of combat, sometimes to first drawn blood, others are to last one standing and on rare occasions, to the death." Cuiasodo grimaced at the mention of a death duel. "The only beast that came close to challenging Janyu was Evtee." Cuiasodo's voice once again showed hate at the mention of Evtee. "Evtee always stayed in the background. When a decision was made, he never made an attempt to give his input. But I could tell he had much contempt for my father, even though he never confessed it. I saw the look in his eyes.

One day, nearly two seasons ago, Janyu went out to scout the area for new fishing grounds. I accompanied him, since at the time I had been promoted to warrior status. Some might accuse my father of giving me the position because I was his son, but I had proved myself many times in combats with vermin in the area."

Collin did not doubt this at all. Cuiasodo seemed very capable. He had, after all, easily defended against Collin's strikes.

"During the excursion, my father and I set up camp near the fishing spot we had found. When I awoke the next morning, he had disappeared. I looked and looked frantically with all of my strength, but when I found him, it was too late. From the way he was cut, it looked as if he had been killed while trying to take down a doe.

"Since I was his son, I now had the responsibility of becoming pack Alpha. I returned to the tribe with my father's body and explained what had happened. Then Evtee brought a challenge forth. Or rather, got another wolf to challenge me.

"Evtee has a son named Matook, one with whom I was very well acquainted with. You might say we were friends. We each taught each other battle techniques. We shared many good times together. That is why it was so difficult for me to fight him.

"Evtee had obviously forced Matook to challenge me to a fight to the death. We were evenly matched. The fight kept a stalemate status, but I was slowly and steadily losing. Each brief moment I would gain the upper hand, my mind would wander to the times that we shared with each other. I knew that Matook wouldn't submit because I could tell that Evtee had threatened him in some way. Eventually, I had Matook where I wanted him. He would have had to submit, or he would have been killed. Seeing as how Matook would not back down, I submitted to him and forfeited my position as Alpha.

"Matook ruled for about two weeks when Evtee challenged him. It was most unusual for a father to challenge his own son, but it was allowed. What Evtee did disgusts me to my very core. He challenged his son to a first drawn blood combat, a fight in which the first combatant to draw blood from the other wins. Evtee drew blood from his son first, but not before battering him into submission. When he drew blood, he had made a cut so deep that it wound up killing Matook. Evtee claimed it was an accident, but I'm sure that he had planned it.

"After Evtee took the lead, our pack was dragged back to the old times before Janyu took power. Much of what he taught us was forgotten, and some of the wolves here have turned savage yet again. Because of my failure to defend my position, I have been looked upon as a coward ever since. The pack views Janyu's death as a shortcoming on my part since I was supposed to defend him. And now, the pack is what you see in front of you. We have not been completely thrown into chaos, but we are nearing it. Little by little, Evtee is trying to gain complete power. The council of elders, a group of wolves that helps the Alpha make decisions, is slowly being dissolved and Evtee asks our opinion on matters less and less."

Collin stayed silent. It was bad for Cuiasodo. Very bad. But, something in the back of his mind told him that there was something in Cuiasodo's story that did not add up, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Kylie soon brought up the subject for him "Cuiasodo, how did you say your father died again?"

"He looked as if he had been gored by a deer of some sort."

"But you said that Janyu tried to steer your tribe away from consuming other animals as food, except for fish. Doesn't it seem a bit strange that a wolf that would have such views would go after a deer?" Kylie asked.

Collin smiled inside. Kylie always had a talent for noticing small details. It was a good thing that she was here with him to point out things like that.

Cuiasodo suddenly looked as if he had had an epiphany. "I had never though of that before! That is odd…"

Blane stood up and finally spoke. "Then there is only one thing to do: investigate where Janyu was killed. How far away is it?"

"About an hour's walk. We should travel by darkness so that none of the wolves stop us."

Cuiasodo glared over to Evtee. _I'll figure this out, you just wait! Soon, the entire pack will know just how despicable you are._

Collin could only just stare at the far wall of the cave, lost in his own thoughts. When he was younger, he recalled hearing some Sherlock Holmes stories. He hoped that what he remembered from them would pay off: this was a genuine mystery they had on their hands.


	16. The Game's Afoot!

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 15: The Game is Afoot!

Cuiasodo was correct in his estimation. The trip only took an hour. Collin passed away the trip by staring at Blane's katana, and noticing a slight difference in the blade. There was an absence of a circular metal crosspiece between the handle and the sword (officially known as a tseuba if Collin remembered correctly). Instead of the tseuba, there was a u-shaped crosspiece with both ends facing outward, away from the handle. As a result, the katana looked like a medieval long sword and a katana had gotten together and had a baby.

Unfortunately, Collin's observant-ness faded once they arrived at the site that Cuiasodo had brought them to. There was nothing to go off of, not a clue or disturbance that could suggest a struggle of any kind. Collin supposed that he shouldn't have expected so much. After all, they were coming to this place years after the fight, murder or scuffle occurred, so what kind of traces could there be?

Collin heaved a sigh and through back to those Sherlock Holmes stories he had read. The trouble was that he had to have read those stories when he was in fourth grade or something. The most he could remember was Sherlock's catch phrase; "The game is afoot!" Needing to vent frustration, Collin stomped his foot hard on the ground.

Kylie noticed. She walked over to Collin to console him.

"Something wrong?" she asked, the concern clearly showing in her voice.

"The game is afoot…the game is afoot…that's all I can remember!" came Collin's frustrated reply. Noticing the confused look pasted on Kylie's beautiful face, Collin decided he should explain, lest he seem completely crazy for his outburst. "I tried thinking back to those Sherlock Holmes stories for some advice on how to figure this out, but all I can remember is what the guy used to say; 'The game is afoot', what the heck does that mean anyway!"

Kylie grabbed Collin by the shoulders and shook him gently. "It's ok, just chill out! You'll figure it out, ya just gotta stay calm and think clearly."

Collins body suddenly ceased its thrashing movements. Kylie was right. Chill, be cool, go with the flow, just calm down, cool out and…gosh it was cold here. No! He had to concentrate. Ok, game is afoot…

_What does that even mean? Was he talking about football or something?_ While Collin wrestled with his inner thoughts on how useless the information he knew was, he suddenly had an epiphany. He was so stunned that he had not though of it earlier that he clapped his hand to his forehead soundly, then regretted doing so when he hurt himself. Still, his glee dulled his pain. He knew the answer now. _Afoot…look for a foot print, duh!_

But that story that Cuiasodo had told had taken place years ago. The footprints would be long gone by now. The pain in Collin's forehead suddenly came back as he felt utterly useless.

_Sure, throw me in with a bunch of rodents that look like they're on steroids, give me some sort of mythical magical sword and a destiny, combine that with my martial art skills and I miraculously can kick butt. But give me a stupid puzzle and I can't think of squat. _

Collin sighed in resignation. It really was hopeless. There was no way they were going to pin this on Evmay or Jay-may or E-bay or whatever that bad wolf dude's name was. The crime had simply taken place too far back to check for evidence. After all, you didn't see the guys on CSI go into a crime scene five years after it happened, did you? And they definitely were not CSI. They didn't even have the nifty little slow motion flashback thingies that they always used.

A flashback! That was what they needed.

"Cuiasodo, could you tell us once more what happened?" Collin asked Cuiasodo.

"There is not much else to tell. We were camped there…" Cuiasodo pointed to a small cleared area behind Collin. "…about several score paces in that direction. The body was about there." pain easily showed as Cuiasodo pointed to the spot where he had found his father slain. The spot happened to be right where Kylie was standing. Awkwardly, Kylie shuffled aside.

"Do you remember anything else?" Collin questioned further.

"I remember that it was spring. That was all."

Collin was again at a loss, but immediately asked Blane. After all, Blane seemed like a pretty smart guy, why not get his input?

"Blane, do you have any ideas?"

Blane's eyes lit up beyond his sunglasses. "Well, I am always happy to share my ideas when one is willing to ask them."

The wise warrior walked over to the spot where Cuiasodo had pointed out, the place where Janyu's body had been found. He kneeled down and surveyed the spot for a few minutes before getting up and walking around the small area as if searching for something. He stopped right next to a gnarled looking tree and pointed at a small indent in the bark.

"This right here seems promising. Anyone in my line of work would know the difference between a simple scuff mark in a tree and an indent made by a weapon. This looks as if some sharp implement scraped against a tree. But still, this alone proves nothing. Collin," Blane wheeled about to face Collin. "Cuiasodo told us that this incident occurred during the spring. It is now presently fall, I believe. From what little I know about this area, a certain change occurs in this land during the warmer spring months, but only for a few weeks. Can you tell me what that is?"

Collin was a bit confused at the question, and a little irritated. Blane was being cryptic yet again, and it didn't necessarily help matters. Still, it wasn't a hard question.

"The snow melts." Collin stated simply.

Blane nodded, then wheeled about to face Cuiasodo. "Cuiasodo, was the snow melted when this attack on Janyu occurred?"

Cuiasodo nodded, not wanting to recall the event of Janyu's demise.

Blane cocked his eyebrow ever so slightly, indicating that he was drawing to his point. "So, if the snow was melted at the time, and it snowed later, provided that the environment was not disturbed much between now and then, which I assume it was not, seeing as how not many pass here, certain markings could have been preserved between that time and presently."

Collin's gaze shifted to Kylie, for she was jumping up and down, waving her arms in a frantic attempt to get his attention. Once she had it, Kylie mouthed something that looked like "Lame's my foot."

It took Collin only a few seconds to realize that his friend was trying to remind him of the annoying catch phrase of that classic detective.

"The game is afoot…footprints!" Collin finally exclaimed, realizing that they had a clue.

Blane nodded, bent down, and began sweeping the snow away cautiously from the area where Janyu was said to have been killed. Collin's thoughts drifted back to school and when he had learned about permafrost, soil that remained permanently frozen due to extreme colds. Perhaps the snow would have created a makeshift permafrost and preserved the footprints. Speaking of school, wasn't he missing a few days by going on this trip? Collin had been gone for about a week now, and was bound to have missed something back home. The boy began to fidget with the string on the end of his katana as he thought of all of the makeup work he would have to do when he got back. Fighting an evil hoard of rodents and woodland creatures would definitely not suffice for a satisfactory excuse, let alone a believable one.

Moments before Collin was about to unwittingly undo the twine on his katana handle, he saw both Blane and Cuiasodo lean in to view the prints, if there were any.

Cuiasodo sat up straight, looking satisfied. "These are both sets of wolf prints. No deer tracks to be found. And see this extra claw in this print? That has to be Evtee's. He has an extra claw on his left foot."

"So now I assume that we have all the proof that we need. Collin, come over here and take a look for yourself."

Obeying Blane, Collin walked over to the spot and was just about to bend down to take a look when he was bowled over by a surly and worried looking Orson.

The otter staggered about, unwittingly destroying their only evidence against Evtee. Cuiasodo, who looked on the verge of tears, reached out to grab Orson by the throat when the otter babbled out a warning.

"Ye ladssbetterget outta 'ere. Sheee, wholves coooming over thuurr hill…"

Orson's slurred speech confirmed the notion that he had definitely had too much to drink.

Less than a second latter, Matthias came stumbling over the hill as well. Collin suddenly remembered that they had both taken up posts as lookouts in case some one or some thing tried to find them.

They could not hear what the mouse was saying because of the distance between them, but Matthias's energetic hopping and pointing soon brought their attention to the disturbance; Alpha Evtee and a few of the warriors from Cuiasodo's tribe were headed right for them.

Matthias re-joined the others in the hopes that they could all escape together, but it was no use. Evtee was upon them before they could even begin to run away.

The old wolf walked up with his paws behind his back, almost as if he had prepared for this moment. It was the first time Collin had heard Evtee speak. He spoke in a low, growing voice that showed old age, yet it seemed sinister somehow. Collin could see why Cuiasodo didn't like him.

"What is the meaning of this?" He asked, coldly.

Collin shifted his feet anxiously. The four wolf guards that accompanied the Alpha seemed imposing, their staves now headed off with stone spear tips. They all stood stock still, ready to attack.

Cuiasodo followed suit. It was clear that Evtee was attempting to tower over him, but the younger wolf kept his back straight and looked Evtee right in the eye. "Alpha Evtee," Cuiasodo struggled to keep the hatred from his voice, "I was merely showing-"

"What you were doing was violating the pack laws. A pack member with a rank as low as yours is not allowed outside the cave after daylight hours, especially with guests."

Evtee finished Cuiasodo's sentence for him. Collin felt an uncomfortable twinge near his stomach. He hated when someone asked a question and then cut someone else off and answered the question before them. He had a math teacher who would do that all the time.

"_Collin, what were you doing with that English book out while we're reviewing for the test?"_

"_I was just-"_

"_What you were doing was being disruptive and ignoring directions."_

That Mrs. whatshername had never let Collin finish and say that he had already reviewed and was reviewing for an English test next period. Collin always felt, why ask a question if you're already going to answer it in the first place?

Collin shook the bad memory from his mind and focused on what was going on about him.

Cuiasodo leered. "Don't you mean _your _laws?" The wolf was done with pleasantries. He was ready to take Evtee for all that he was worth. "You instated that law after Janyu left us, a law that Janyu worked hard to have removed from the tribe creed."

Evtee stayed stone faced. Then, surprisingly, he smiled. This chilled Collin to the bone, for his eyes filled with malice rather than joy as the edges of his lips perked up to form a toothy grin. Evtee was not concealing that he derived pleasure from this. "Do not forget, pup, that Janyu is gone because of you!"

The two stared into each other's eyes for a time until Cuiasodo was overcome by his emotions. The wolf hung his head as Evtee chuckled in his throat. "Good. Know your place. You and the visitors shall come back to the cave with me. And, as an example, you will be restricted from hunts, guard duty or any otherwise warrior-like activity for the next month. Is that clear?"

A nod from Cuiasodo. Evtee chuckled yet again, and then turned to leave.

Collin spotted something peculiar hanging from Evtee's belt. It appeared to be a dagger fashioned from a deer antler, with the main part of the weapon unaltered. As a result, the akward weapon actually looked like a hand held antler. Something went off in Collin's mind yet again.

_Everyone thought that Janyu was killed by a deer…_

Collin unsheathed his weapon from his back. The scraping sound of sword on sheath caused Evtee and his guards to freeze. Not exactly thinking of the magnitude of what he was doing, Collin pointed the blade at Evtee, something he had seen done in a samurai movie at some point, and launched into a heroic sound speech.

"Evtee, I know what really happened on that day years ago. Janyu was not killed by a deer; he was murdered by you!" Evtee wheeled around at this. For the first time, an emotion other than stony indifference or eerie joy showed in Evtee's face. It was hard to tell, but he almost seemed…alarmed. "You have a deer antler weapon, do you not? It must have been you who did the deed. So, I, Collin the warrior, challenge you to a fight for the position of Alpha. First drawn blood!"

Collin's courage grew and grew as he began to notice his effect on Evtee. But all of that changed with the next word to come from the wolf.

"Accepted."

With that, Collin's fire of courage dwindled into a few pitiful ashes. He was done for.

Author's comment:

I'd like to say a few things in closing. First, I am not done writing this story. I practically have the whole thing mapped out, but it is still a work in progress. Second, before this comes up, I would like to say that the character Cuiasodo is in no way modeled after me, nor is it an attempt to insert myself into the story. I had actually begun writing this story before I joined and had planned for that character's name to be named Cuiasodo before as well. Thirdly, please review when you get the chance. My story seems to be getting a good amount of hits, but I only have eight reviews. As long as they aren't flamers, review please.


	17. Blane Teaches

The Samurai of Redwall

Chapter 16: Blane Teaches

"Again, this time with more fluidity." Blane said simply

The handle of his blade hung limply in Collin's hands. Every fiber of his palms and fingers ached from the vibration of the sword clattering against Blane's. His arms were beginning to ache as well from having to swing his katana, along with his legs crying out for rest from having to perform quick footwork. Come to think of it, his feet were sore too. Collin had gone through a fight routine with Blane and every time the man had wanted him to do it differently: one time with more finesse, the other with more restraint, several times with more speed, one time with more slow flow and now more fluidity.

Fluidity…what was fluidity anyway? Was that even a real word? Collin's mind was weary and he found his thoughts wandering. Luckily, Blane took notice, and pulled Collin back to reality just as his mind had jumped to the topic of the creation of cherry pie.

The teacher grabbed his student lightly by his shoulders. "You must concentrate on battle when you are in battle. If you let your mind wander, you won't have that much time left to think on anything at all."

Collin knew that Blane was trying to help, but right now he came off as more annoying than helpful. He abruptly shrugged Blane's hands off of his shoulders.

"I know that! It's just that…what do you want from me? What do you expect of me? What do you want me to do?"

Blane's shoulders relaxed. His black eyebrows appeared above his sunglasses, raised in confusion.

"Collin, I am not the one who wants anything from you. You yourself set your limits and your progress. I am merely a teacher and guide when you permit me and request me to be."

Collin peered back through squinted eyes, looking almost as if Bane had said something insulting. "Oh bull crap! You're the one who made the prophecies, so you decide what I have to do, right?"

Blane shook his head. His eyebrows slowly slid back beneath his glasses as he finally understood what Collin was upset about.

"When one writes prophecies, one is not really writing them. They are visions, words that come to the prophet, and are filtered through the mind and subconscious to the pen and mouth where they are expressed to the world. I did not decide what the prophecies contained, I merely wrote them and know what they say and instruct, and what they say is that you will set your own pace in this."

Collin looked out of the window of the zeppelin, unable to face Blane.

"It's just that…it's so hard, ya know? I was just a regular guy, going on a camping trip I really didn't want to go on, and I got pulled into this." Collin sat down, suddenly feeling far too weary to stand. "Now, I gonna wind up fighting a wolf tomorrow, and probably get creamed, or worse…"

Blane strode over and knelt down beside Collin. "Sometimes we must do things that we do not desire to do. I did not desire to be a prophet, yet the visions were given to me." Collin came face to face with Blane. He had no idea that this wise man who had appeared out of nowhere could possibly have anything in common with himself. He looked upon his teacher with newfound respect as Blane continued. "All I wanted in life was to be a sword smith. That is why I crafted the very weapon that you use, as well as the one that I use, and many of the ranged weapons that Orson now wields. As a matter of fact, it is because of your sword, Collin, that this has all happened…

"As I said before, it was nearly five years ago that a wise man came to me and told me that the blade I had just crafted would serve a great purpose. It would 'be the one that that would stand between a world's preservation and a world's demise'. The wise man seemed to come from nowhere, and left as quickly as he appeared, but not before blessing your blade and taking it with him to this realm. A week after was when the visions started,

"They were only whispers at first, and, as a matter of fact, remained only that. They were words telling me exactly what was going to happen and what needed to be done. Whenever I heard these, I did my best to record them and keep track of them so that they could be put to use. Then came the day that I knew I had to leave my world. I wanted so much to remain where I was and continue crafting weapons, but I knew that I had to go, to serve the greater good.

"So you see, Collin, your burden is akin to mine. We both must do the things that we don't want to do but must do, in order for others as well as ourselves to be able to do the things we want to, to live without fear or oppression."

Collin was at a loss for words. Blane's speech had helped him and hurt him. It helped because he knew he wasn't the only one in a tricky situation right now. Blane had to give up his way of life in order to come here and find him. It hurt because the full gravity of what Collin had to do had finally sunk in. He was the one who would either save this world, or fail, and who knew what would happen to him, let alone the world if he failed.

Slowly, Collin got up and retrieved his sword. He gripped the handle with newfound strength and stared Blane in the eye, or where he presumed was the eye.

"If I'm going to have to be some sort of hero, I'd better get some practice in. C'mon, Blane, what do I do next?"

Blane's face broke into one of his rare smiles. He was amused and charmed by his student's new outlook. Blane got to his feet and further instructed Collin. In his mind, he only hoped that Collin would hold this new attitude to heart, because Blane knew full well that it only got more difficult from here in…

It was getting late. Cuiasodo's tail shifted anxiously as he leaned against the cave wall. All of the elders were gathered in the back corner, waiting for the duel to take place. The rest of the pack was not far off, having gathered in a blob off to the left. The moon was now very high in the sky, although only a fragment of its light could be seen from inside of the cave.

Cuiasodo hoped that Collin had not backed down on his challenge. To forfeit your own challenge was cause for much dishonor and practically one of the highest sins a wolf could commit, let alone an outsider.

"Waiting on someone?"

Cuiasodo turned to find Collin starting at him, sword in hand a ready to battle. Cuiasodo pushed himself off of the wall.

"I have been waiting a long time. I almost feared that you were going to back down on your own challenge."

Collin pulled a mock offended look. "What, me? Am I the kind of person who'd back down on his own challenge?"

The wolf could only shrug. "In all honesty, Collin, I know you little. I know you to be the chosen one, but that is all. As far as your credibility, well…I have not known you long enough to be sure of it."

Collin put a hand on Cuiasodo's shoulder. He could tell that he was nervous.

"Relax. I'll make it out of this, promise."

"How did you tell that I was nervous?"

Collin smiled. "Your eyes." Collin took his hand from Cuiasodo's shoulder and began to walk to where the wolves were gathered. But he suddenly stopped and cast one final glance back to Cuiasodo. "Here's to hoping you'll be able to get to know me better."

"Fight true, Collin the warrior." Cuiasodo responded.

The boy/ "warrior's" chest swelled as he approached the other wolves. Deep inside, Collin could hear himself getting ready for the coming battle.

_Ok, let's do this thing!_


	18. The Duel

The Samurai of Redwall

Part 17

Collin shifted his feet once again. It was hard to get his footing in the snow, despite that there was only one patch of it in the room. But he was standing on that patch, and even though it was only about as thick as a millimeter, it threw his focus. Why couldn't he get the right stance? What worried him more than anything was that Evtee easily got into position three minutes ago. This match wasn't going to be a problem for his canine opponent.

The place suddenly seemed colder now. But then, it was probably because Collin was wearing his T-shirt and jeans again. He pulled a wry face, a bit jealous that his opponent was insulated under all of that fur. Heh, now there's something he never thought he'd think about in his lifetime. His opponent had fur. Collin had thought of some pretty weird scenarios in his back yard when he practiced the moves from the latest action film, but he had never thought up something this ridiculous.

Still they both stood there; Collin kept up his guard while Evtee stood relaxed. In retrospect, the boy reasoned that it was probably a better idea to relax his muscles for when he needed to use them. But as luck would have it, the minute he relaxed, the official came to the center of the ring.

The official was an old grizzled looking wolf that reminded Collin of some of the stray dogs back home. They always looked hungry and tired. The official only looked tired though, which was probably a good thing. If the wolf looked hungry, well, he might think that he was hungry for…Collin dropped the thought right there. He didn't want to think about getting eaten right before he started a possibly near-fatal match with a living man-wolf.

The official spoke with a voice befitting his scruffy character. "The challenger, Collin has laid down the challenge of first drawn blood to ruling Alpha Evtee. At stake is the future of the pack. To the victor go the spoils. Name your terms…"

Evtee was the first to step forward. "In the most likely event that I should win, Collin and his cohorts will be bound to leave this place, never to return or meddle in the packs affairs, on pain of death should they violate this creed."

There were "Here here's" all around. The official gestured to Collin, who slipped a bit as he strode forward.

"Well, uh…" This was just brilliant! No one had told him that you named your terms before one of these. He just assumed it was all predetermined. The most that Collin knew was that if anyone (or, as Cuiasodo and the others would have said, "anybeast") challenged an Alpha to a duel, the victor won authority over the pack, so if the challenger beat the Alpha, he would become the new Alpha. But would the pack allow something like that to happen? Collin was, after all, human and not of this world. Was there anything in the laws that talked about something like this? And was ruling the pack what he really wanted?

Collin closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and finally decided on something. "In the event that I should win, Alpha Evtee shall have to submit to questioning from Cuiasodo regarding the demise of former Alpha Janyu. Every wolf here will hear what Cuiasodo has to say, and decide what happened that night Janyu was killed." the official was about to start the match, but Collin wasn't done yet. "And the pack laws regarding a duel between an Alpha and another shall stay the same; to the victor goes the authority over the pack." he finished, trying to sound as professional as his slightly wavering voice would allow.

There was silence as the pack took in what this meant. Should Evtee win, the curious outsider would have to leave. Cuiasodo would probably be punished as well for bringing the outsiders here. But should the outsider, Collin, win, there would be a shift in the balance of power. Collin would become the new pack Alpha. The pack laws were not clear as to whether or not those from another species could rule over a pack, and therefore didn't prohibit nor condone it. Still, the idea was still strange.

And Collin felt this feeling of awkwardness. He sympathized with the wolves a bit. After all, it would be strange if the president of the United States were a squirrel. He laughed, but caught himself just before the point so he didn't look like he wasn't taking this all seriously.

The official took it all the same as the other pack members, but did not show it as much. He merely raised his paw and spoke once more. "The challenge is on first drawn blood on these terms…" Collin listened, a bit perturbed that he had to hear all of that again. It was like on one of those annoying reality shows where they skipped to a break just to drag the tension out. Collin was so wrapped up in this analogy that he didn't notice as the official lowered his hand and shouted for the match to commence. The thing that brought him out of his daydream was the sight of Evtee rushing towards him at top speed with his staff.

Collin's hands shook as his blade absorbed the impact of the hit. For a wooden weapon, it hit hard! The boy swung back at Evtee's chest, trying to score a hit. Naturally, the wolf blocked it and brought the butt of his staff right into Collin's face.

He was now quite familiar with the statement "seeing stars" having been knocked out nearly three times on this dreadful little trip. The only positive was that he now knew that you didn't really see stars, but rather that strange checkerboard pattern you see when you rub your eyes too hard, the one that looks like television static.

Collin rose to his feet, not wanting to open his eyes. He was winded from where he had landed on the fall, a dull pain that mixed with the sharp pain he now felt inside of his mouth. The boy held his breath, aware that any slight bit of blood spillage could count as a score for Evtee. All he would have had to do was cut himself in his mouth. And to his horror, he tasted a warm, metal flavor on his tongue. He had lost now, no doubt about it.

The rest of the pack waited on baited breath as well. Evtee afforded himself a break as he lounged back upon his staff. Collin reached up to his lip with great care and touched it. He blinked hard and slowly lowered his hand back, putting it palm up in front of him.

No blood. It was clear. The copper taste must have been his imagination. He just had a fat lip, that was all. Everyone eased up and there was total silence again, until…

"Yehoo, Collin m'boy, that's it! Give 'em the old blood and vinegar!"

Orson? The otter was standing on the sidelines, flapping his arms up and down like a maniac.

_Is he drunk again?_

Collin would have thought that he would have sobered up a bit by now. Oh well; guess the booze in this world took a lot longer to ware off.

Evtee was once again the first to attack, this time with twin swings in quick succession. Collin thought back to a drill he had done with Blane and blocked, once, twice! He smirked at the fact that the blows had glanced off harmlessly. But, yet again, his mind was not in the right place and he missed a perfect moment to counter. Evtee stabbed with his staff for Collin's chest. The sword wasn't wide enough to block it. He shoved his left hand in the way of the stick and heard something crack as the wood hit full force.

The boy shook out his left hand. He was sure he had broken it. Then again, he had been sure that he had cut his mouth earlier. He fought through the pain and gripped the lower part of his sword handle once more.

"That a boy, Collin, show 'em what you're made of! Yahoo!"

There he went again. That drunkard otter was beginning to embarrass Collin, even more so when he started up a chant.

"Collin, Collin, Collin, Collin!"

He turned to tell that jerk to stop, but pretty soon Mathias had picked it up.

"Aw, man, not you, too!" Collin groaned.

And the chant still carried on to Blane and (to his utter horror) Kylie like some sort of twisted audio plague. A few of the wolves even joined in. And that was where it hit him; they were trying to boost his morale. His friends were trying to make him feel better. And now the wolves had picked up on it, with only a few in parts of the cave not joining in on the chant, mainly the older ones who believed in keeping a quiet dignity about challenges and matches like this one. The creatures that he was fighting to help actually cared if he won or not. Wonderful! And here he thought they wanted to see him go.

Collin turned about and waved to the crowd, raising his arms to make them chant louder. Evtee, angrier than ever, saw an opportunity to attack. He was right up on the infuriating trespasser, ready to knock him out for good, when he saw the outsider duck down deep and sidestep him with the greatest agility he'd ever seen.

With the back of his blade, he swung for Evtee's feet, and knocked the wolf off balance. Evtee clattered to the floor in a growling heap while Collin stood over him, grinning like a mad man.

Collin offered his hand. "Need some help up?"

Evtee snapped at the insolent pup's paw and got to his feet, more than a little disheartened that somebeast so small had avoided so great an attack.

The chanting still continued in the mist of the match. Evtee would swing and Collin would dance out of the way, countering but never scoring a hit with his blade. Back and fourth blows were exchanged, a few from the blunt part of Collin's katana and a bit more from Evtee's staff.

But not once did the chanting dwindle. Nearly all of the wolves had now joined in. The pack felt more together than it had in years. They now realized the oppression that they had been under. The truth was that every wolf in the pack had felt a tiny bit suspicious over what was going on, and now at last they shared that feeling with each other in realizing that this boy could liberate them. For once in a great while, he gave them hope.

Their weapons locked together and the adversaries locked gazes; Collin's confident while Evtee's was enraged. All at once they broke the lock and struggled to move quicker than their opponent. Collin raised up his blade…and was shocked to find that Evtee could move faster than he. The wolf again jabbed at Collin's chest.

Instinctively, he dropped his raised arms and contorted forward, only to be bashed in the face. He staggered backwards, his direction changing with the second as he was attacked from every angle by Evtee's staff. The final blow was struck and Collin was flat on his butt, his katana lying too far away to reach quickly.

The wolf smiled and turned to the crowd. "Let this be a lesson to you all what insurrection brings, especially to outsiders. Mutiny or any treason thereof will not be tolerated, on pain of death and torture should it be violated. And I myself shall carry out the sentence to those who would violate it. My word is law, remember it!"

Evtee spun on his heel and raised up his staff for a final hit on Collin, one that would knock him out for awhile if not surely crush his skull. Collin prepared himself for the worst.

And then Cuiasodo was there with his own weapon, a wooden staff similar to Evtee's only not as sturdy looking. He hit against Evtee's weapon, knocking it clear across the room.

"Murderer of my father," he leveled his staff to point at Evtee's throat. "I will not let this continue any longer. Collin has not lost the challenge; he has been battered but has not bled. I will not let you kill him as you killed your own son." Cuiasodo turned to the official. "I wish to take Collin's place. I still stand by his terms should I win."

Evtee frowned, but then smiled. He seemed to like this idea. The wolf looked across the room to where his staff was. He snapped his fingers and a pair of wolves retrieved it. The Alpha looked the thing up and down once it had been given back to him (the two wolves mentioned had rushed back to the crowd, clearly not wanting to stick by Evtee's side), noticing the bumps and indentations left on it from the fight.

"Very well, but if the outsider is switching places with the other insolent pup, I demand a change of weaponry."

Evtee clapped his hands and the same pair of wolves that had retrieved his weapon rushed to his aid. They relieved him of his weapon and again disappeared into the caves, coming back a moment later. Evtee must have planned all this. Between them they carried a long object wrapped in a leather bag (_don't want to know where that leather came from_, Collin thought, remembering the rat meat from earlier). The lower wolves set the package reverently down at Evtee's feet and lingered but for a second until he clapped again, ordering them away. He bent down, picked up the leather bound thing and slowly undid the twine bound around it.

"Get on with it already!" Collin shouted. Kylie sniggered at this but tried to hide it.

Evtee glared but finally submitted, taking the leather off quickly to reveal a shining metal rod.

"This steel staff was forged in the fires of the south forges, long before our people came to reside here. With this bit of sky metal, I shall strike you down, traitor!" He announced, more to everybeast else that Cuiasodo.

Cuiasodo simply glared. "If that is what I am to stand up for what I believe in, so be it. If you all see me as a traitor, than you will now witness a traitor battle it out with a murderer."

The crowd was silent yet again; the only sound perforating that air finally was the official calling out the beginning of the match. Evtee sprung into his attack, swinging his staff in an attempt to batter Cuiasodo as he had battered Collin. Cuiasodo moved out of the way and blocked each move, seeming to know what was coming before it came. Evtee swung for his head; Cuiasodo brought his staff above his head and deflected the blow. Evtee swung for his legs; Cuiasodo arced the staff for his right leg and knocked the metal pole away. The fight seemed to change into a ritual with one side always attacking and the other always blocking. Cuiasodo never once counter-attacked one of Evtee's moves.

Collin watched this all, transfixed at Cuiasodo's movement. He was even a bit jealous of the wolf. The way he blocked everything that was directed at him was really cool. He wished that he'd be able to be that good someday.

Evtee did a twin attack, both sides of the pole swinging at Cuiasodo in quick succession. And still it glanced off. Now was his chance. Cuiasodo finally stabbed for Evtee's chest for a counter attack. The Alpha took the blow full on in the chest. Everyone eagerly awaited what would happen next.

And Evtee shrugged it off. He even laughed a little at Cuiasodo's attempt to counter attack. Clearly, the blow was not strong enough. He came back full force against Cuiasodo. The younger wolf was so startled that his counter had done nothing that he barely had time to react to the strikes.

Meanwhile, the wooden staff wasn't fairing well against its sturdier metal counterpart. The thing was beginning to strain and splinter against the impact of Evtee's strikes. Hit after hit, bits of the fibers were snapping until at last the result was clear enough to be seen by every one of the spectators. Cuiasodo's staff shattered in two and he was left pinned on the ground with Evtee standing above him, ready to batter Cuiasodo to death.

For the second time that night, someone intervened. Collin stood between the two combatants with his sword drawn. Now it was his turn to pay Cuiasodo back.

"That's enough! I made the challenge first, so I'm gonna finish it. You're mine, dog breath!"

Collin didn't even wait for the signal this time. He wasted no time in starting his plan. By watching Evtee fight he was able to pick up on something. The wolf had good defense, but not as good as Cuiasodo's. When Cuiasodo had gone up to challenge him, Evtee only attacked. That could have been because Cuiasodo never countered, but when Cuiasodo had stabbed for his chest, he had taken the blow full on. Evtee's weakness must have lied in his defense.

Collin blitzed Evtee, channeling all the strength he could muster. The blade he wielded gave him extra power, and he used it to its full potential. He moved with the lightening speed that he had used back at the abbey when he ran up that wall. Evtee was becoming overwhelmed by the whole thing and had to concentrate all of his energy in to his blocks.

Collin never let up. He swung for Evtee's right, and when that was blocked he spun around and swiped for his left. He swung up and down, intent on hitting his target, on scoring a point. His determination showed clear as day on his face. He seemed willing to die trying to give Evtee a cut. The expression was still on his face when he was hit over the head once he began to slow down.

Collin did not see that static this time, but he had double vision for awhile when his eyes finally opened. He was left staring up at a smiling Evtee.

"My opponent is incapacitated. He has lost. Now the outsiders must leave…"

Someone laughed. It started as a lone giggle, then escalated to a full out laugh, so joyous that it added a surreal feeling to the atmosphere. It was Collin. He was laughing like a maniac at the fact that he had lost.

No, wait. The other wolves began to notice too. Still there was Collin's laughter. Across Evtee's chest was a lone scratch, a thin line of distortion in his fur bulging with muscles. A thin drop of red drooped down from the wound. The wolves stared transfixed at their ex-leader. And still, Collin laughed…


	19. The Trial

The Samurai of Redwall

Part 18: The Trial

Their band had now increased to six, their newest member sprawled out on a sofa in the corner of the cabin. Cuiasodo looked out the window at the receding image of his homeland, obviously a bit upset that he was leaving behind the tribe that he had fought so hard to restore to its former glory. As per usual to a mind that has had events fly by so fast, Collin reminisced about the things that had lead up to this moment…

He had won. Collin had actually won! It had taken time for him to get over his delirium to comprehend it all, but now he was so elated he nearly went back into the semi-sane state he was in before.

As was customary, the demands of the victor were filled out in full.

"To the challenger go the spoils," announced the elder wolf. "Evtee, now former Alpha shall stand questioning by Cuiasodo, effective immediately."

The young wolf nodded. "Evtee, you and every other member of the pack shall now move into the Chamber of the Grand Council where we shall hold the questioning…"

There were murmurs of everything from agreement, to aggravation, to resignation as the whole mob made their way down the tunnels towards the dictated meeting place. Evtee did his best to recede into the mass of wolves, not wanting to be noticed. He felt as if his pride were a physical being and had just been thrown on the floor, trampled to death and then impaled on the edge of this interloper's blade. The wolf even looked down on the imaginary spot where the act of brutality had occurred. Luckily for him, his now less than thrilled flunkies flanked him all the way to the interrogation. From their body language it was clear that their days siding with the regime of Evtee were over, now replaced by minutes; to be precise, five more minutes, just enough time for Evtee to be interrogated, give the kind of long-winded speech he had come to be infamous for and then be de-throned. Some of the pack members were very fickle when it came to loyalty to the reigning power.

Collin kept outside of the group, separated by space and species. Across the way, he saw Cuiasodo linger behind. The young wolf locked gazes with him. He smiled with his eyes, as if to say, _thank you_, with a mere glance. Collin smiled back with his lips and nodded, saying clearly, _Any time!_

All of this walking lead to a chamber that was no doubt the Grand Council room or chamber or whatever Cuiasodo had called it. It was a large, hollowed out cave that could easily accommodate the entire pack plus about thirty more. At the far end, opposite the tunnel that they had entered from was a stone table that looked like it had grown out of the ground. More likely, it had been carved from a rock that was part of the cave over that same spot. From that area back, it resembled a court room; stone box-like platform at the midway point between the chamber probably serving as some sort of witness stand and a gate, made out of stone as well (what else?) shutting out the crowd that was not involved with the goings on. There was also another larger box platform at the left of the room, but Collin's attention was focused more central, specifically at the box that Evtee now stood in. Cuiasodo stood at attention right next to the large stone table where the Grand Council was now filing in (at least Collin presumed them to be the grand council. The wolves looked very old and some a bit frail, with a few exceptions of strong specimens here and there. With a group like that, how could they _not_ be a Grand Council? If he was wrong, then everything those martial arts movies taught him about councils was a lie).

The center council member banged a gavel (classic!) against the table and hushed the crowd. Rather than go through an intricate recitation of the agreement that was now being put into effect, he gestured to Cuiasodo and spoke but three words, "You may begin."

"Short and sweet. A refreshing change from all the gab that's been goin' on 'an on, eh, Matthias?" He heard Orson growl lowly while Matthias attempted to "shush" him.

"You were present at the death of my father, correct?" The pain of having to bring his father's death was a great inhibitor to Cuiasodo, but he pushed past it easily. Evtee was practically on the chopping block anyway.

"The only thing that I know is that it was a fault of yours that he died, not mine." Evtee snapped. He wasn't about to let this all go.

"Objection!" Collin shouted out before he could stop himself. Instantaneously, he felt all heads snap around to his position. Even the council was staring. "I'll…er, just sit down." the boy went to sit down, even though there were no chairs, but was stopped by a command or rather words of encouragement from the council member to the left of the center one.

"No, by all means, proceed."

_I can actually do that?_ Collin didn't know that he could actually object to things. Oh well, nothing to do now but go with it.

"Evtee did not answer the question Cuiasodo asked him. If I remember correctly," he continued, standing up straight and trying to look professional, "I asked that he would submit to questioning, not resist it."

The center council member spoke again. "Evtee, the cub does have a point. You must answer the question."

_Cub!? _He nearly shouted aloud, but kept the comment to himself. Matthias must have seen his facial expression, because the next moment the mouse responded with, "Don't worry; it's just a term for a young person here."

This didn't seem to help much, though. "Yeah, as if I didn't get enough of being called 'kid' back home."

"Kid?"

"I'll explain later…"

While Collin tacked another word onto the growing mental list of expressions that he would have to explain to Matthias, (adding 'kid' alongside "what's up?', 'awesome', 'dude and 'G-dog' – a thing that Kylie normally didn't say but mentioned one time on the trip just to make a joke – just to name a few) Evtee begrudgingly submitted.

"Yes…I may have been present."

Cuiasodo turned to face his tribe. "As you all may remember, Janyu appeared to have been killed by a deer. The abrasions and injuries on his body appeared to have been created by deer antlers."

Blane kept watch from further away. It did pain Cuiasodo to speak of his father, he could tell that from simple body language, but deep down the chains that bound him from speaking were shattering. His aura showed a stronger resolve.

"When I and my friends went to the site of the murder, we found significant evidence that Evtee was in fact the perpetrator of the crime." Cuiasodo let this have its desired effect before going on. Now he had their attention like a rat in a trap. "There were scrape marks on the tree near the area where we camped out,"

As Cuiasodo spoke, Evtee turned around and made a pleading yet angry face to on of his still loyal flunkies. The gangly wolf in question stood up and shouted, "Objection!"

"You may proceed." came the answer.

"Could not the scrape marks have been made by the deer that killed Janyu?"

The council member on the far left was affected by what was said, and raised his voice in support to the answer, "He is right, Cuiasodo. It would be a simple matter for a deer to make a mark in a tree, as would it for Janyu."

The young canine nodded. "I understand that, Councilbeast Yanuu, but allow me to continue. There is yet more evidence. We also found a pawprint within the ground near the area. It had been preserved by the snow that collected the previous year. The print had an extra claw, exactly like Evtee's footpaw."

Again, a member of the council was quick to question. "May we go forth and see it for ourselves?"

Cuiasodo shook his head. "I am afraid not. The print was destroyed just after we discovered it. But I do have witnesses: Collin and his companions. Each and every one of them is more than willing to testify that they in fact saw the print."

Collin and all of the others nodded in agreement.

Still, it wasn't enough. "Objection!" was shouted by the shabby crony. "The new arrivals could easily be influenced by Cuiasodo. They are in league, is it not obvious?"

_He knows how to phrase things, I'll give him that_ Collin thought darkly.

The council again quietly pondered and discussed things amongst each other until the center member spoke aloud on behalf of the whole.

"We shall not give into the suspicion that this is all an elaborate plot. To be fare, we must give Collin and his companions the benefit of the doubt. However," uh-oh, there was a 'however'. Those were never good… "A destroyed paw print cannot be considered apt evidence as none among the council nor may anybeast among the pack can observe it."

It was a surprise to everyone there when Blane, who had been silent for the entire span of this little court session, decided to make his thoughts known. "Your honor, if I may be so bold as to speak; Janyu was a peaceful beast, was he not? I may be an outsider, but it strikes me as odd that a pacifist, who was currently trying to steer the tribe away from such rituals as the consumption of enemies, would go after a deer and attempt to kill it in an unprovoked attack."

Councilbeast Yanuu or whatever his name was (Collin was having a hard time keeping track of the many vowel-ed names of the wolves) again spoke up. "I have often wondered that myself. It seems strange that Janyu would in fact attack a deer unprovoked, especially a doe."

"He was hunting, is that not obvious?" Evtee spat, his hatred barely concealed by his upright demeanor. "Janyu was out on a hunt and had engaged a deer in order to kill it and bring it back to our tribe…a noble effort on his part." Collin noticed how quickly Evtee added that last part and, judging by the suspicious look from two council wolves on the right, so did they.

"Bull dears have antlers! Does don't have anything like that." Now even Kylie was joining in. Realizing that all eyes were on her, the out of place human hastily bowed and apologized for her outburst, pulling on little ticks and mannerisms she had seen in old samurai films. Collin wasn't the only one who watched a bit too many movies.

"There is no need for apology. The female does have a point. If Janyu had in fact engaged a doe, than that would not account for the fact that his injuries were caused by a deer antler."

"Perhaps a bull was guarding the doe."

But nobody listened to the gangly henchman now. Cuiasodo took the floor with aggression, yet kept a tone of respect. "My father was not foolish enough to engage a doe when a full grown bull would be nearby, if I may say it plain."

"_If I may say it plain?" Are we in a puritan flick?_

Cuiasodo had Evtee up against the ropes now. He had the elder wolf just where he wanted him. The young coyote, the son of a murdered leader and oppressed people, was finally ready to rise up, and give the proverbial killing blow. Everyone in the room knew it. Even Evtee, which was why he was eager to stall with any remark he could think of.

"What if it was an old, wounded bull? What then? I do not think it would have seemed all that harmful to engage and old bull, so perhaps-"

"Enough stalling, Evtee, your judgment is upon you. Behold," he bounded across the room to Evtee, shoving him around so that his back was presented to the council. "Here is the weapon that Evtee murdered Janyu with!" Cuiasodo drew back the folds of Evtee's drab robe. Tension mounted as the cloth was pulled back to reveal-

Nothing.

_Wait, nothing?_

Yes, nothing. There was in fact, not a single thing on Evtee's belt. Not the antler knife, nor any other armament at all. The final piece of evidence was gone.

Evtee turned around, a look of barely concealed glee upon his face. "What is the meaning of this?" he said, making sure to cause spittle to fly right onto Cuiasodo's face.

The council was just as displeased, only their faces hid no mirth or evil glee behind their exterior, just frustration, disappointment and sorrow. A good deal of the council was irritated by the entire matter. However, some of them did in fact want to see Evtee convicted, but with little to no evidence to go on and their commitment to the rules of the council, there was little that they could do.

"Order!" the central councilor banged his gavel, although there was no need since the entire room was under a deep hush. "Cuiasodo, I am sorry, but due to lack of proof…"

Collin lost focus and drifted off. After all of that, after nearly being killed and being yelled at, they would lose. As if his own sacrifice had been bad enough, Cuiasodo had put up with abuse for a year, and probably would put up with it for many years to come now. This was like a bad dream, where you had something you needed one minute only to have it vanish the next minute. And now, there was no way out.

"We, the Council of Elders, do hereby…"

Or was there? There had to be a way out. Think, think, think…

"Objection!" Stall! That was Collin's last resort and last chance and darn it if he wasn't going to use it.

"Yes?" the center wolf asked, slightly miffed but eager to hear what the boy had to say.

"Um…er…"

"Evtee said that he was present at the scene." something whispered into Collin's ear. He caught the faint odor of alcohol.

"Orson?"

"Earlier, the big ould wolfie said that he had been there when Janyu was killed. Cuiasodo told us that the baddie'd been here the entire time."

The new bit of evidence was great, but Collin had been wondering something. "I thought you were drunk?"

He couldn't see, but Collin could picture the surly otter smiling. "Ye aren't drunk until the floor comes up and hits ye in the face, m'boy!"

Holding back giggles, Collin finally replied, "Evtee said that he had been present at the death of Janyu when he had, to everyone else's knowledge, been back here the whole time, correct?"

The council seemed shaken. It had worked! Collin thanked goodness that the guilty often made continuity errors under stress.

"This is true." came the general murmur of agreement.

Collin wasn't sure if wolves could sweat, but he would sware later on that at that moment, Evtee had come the closest to sweating as possible the moment the council quizzed him on his oversight.

"Well…" Evtee was stuck. The stall would work longer than planned, maybe even win the case.

Collin thought that he would look no further after this. He had called his opponent, so to speak, on a mistake and now the enemy was paying for it. Right now, the boy was satisfied by his apparent victory. Matthias, however, was not about to give up his diligence. The mouse had been looking the entire crowd over, seeking out the whereabouts of the antler weapon. With his warrior's tenacity and observance, the rodent looked the crowd over, taking a mental check of the wolves one by one. When he had gotten to wolf number twenty, something happened that drew his attention to the back of the room.

"There!" was all that Collin heard but it was enough to cause his head (and a few others) to spin in the direction of the shout. Matthias was jabbing his finger at the skinny lanky who was now trying to exit the court room. The mouse took flight and ran after him, but the crowd barred the way.

Collin instantly knew what was going on. Rather than go right from point A to point B, however, he opted for the high road. The boy leapt upon the railing separating the observers from the court, giving chase as the Head Councilor banged his gavel.

Tap, tap, tap tap,

His steps were quick. His limbs steady. His mind readied. His fall…painful. Very painful. To both his body and his ego.

_Another fantastic move for ninja boy!_

He began to crawl, more than run, through the crowd. At least it wasn't as hard as having to shove his way through, like Matthias was having to do now. But he had no chance of catching up with the runner now.

But luck was on their side this time. The same obstacle that had prevented Matthias from reaching his goal was now hindering the runaway. The scrawny wolf was having to push and shove, quite violently, through the masses. Walk, push, shove, pull, sprint, walk, shove; it didn't end. Until he got sight of that door, the arched gateway that would mean the end of this crowded prison. Home free!

Swoosh!

The wolf was pulled right off his feet. He managed to roll onto his back and stare up into the satisfied face of…

"Hello down there!" Kylie said, cheekily. "That doesn't look all that comfortable." She remarked, referring to the twisted and bent over pose of her captive. As the wolf's eyes grew wider, a set of hands appeared out of a mass of wolf legs.

"I got his foot! Nobody move, nobody panic, I got his foot, he isn't going anywhere!" Collin shouted from his low vantage point, trying to sound like the hero even though he had a wolf foot in his ear.

Matthias was the last one to arrive on the scene. He had to suppress a smile as he observed Kylie with her foot propped atop the worried looking canine's chest and Collin, now worming his way up away from the feet and onto his knees. Unfortunately, all of the pack spectators were too entranced by this show that they did not move out of the way of the young human. The mouse warrior bent down and retrieved what he had seen the henchman carrying.

"Cuiasodo!"

The antler weapon went flying through the air, the eyes of the pack following it and oddly reminding Collin of a tennis match. Cuiasodo caught it with unerring accuracy and then set the weapon upon the council table.

"There is the proof I wanted to show you. That is a weapon that I have seen Evtee carry about. Question any of his lackeys and they'll confess to it; this is the thing that killed Janyu."

After that, the usual dialog was passed back and fourth, a few objections from Evtee's crew silenced by decrees from the council and cries of support for Cuiasodo's case. After all, those in line with Evtee were not the only ones who knew he carried that weapon, and Cuiasodo was not the only wolf who suspected foul play in all of this. It all ended with the entire council going into their mysterious whispers and then all falling silent, watching the room vigilantly

"The council has come to a decision. We hereby pass judgment upon Evtee, former Alpha of our tribe, that he is guilty of the murder of not only Noble Janyu, but of his own son, as pointed out by Cuiasodo during the final moments of this session. The council decrees that he be banished and stripped of all rights entitled to him as a pack member. However," another however? "The final decision is up to the current Alpha.

Collin looked over at Cuiasodo. Everyone else in the room looked at him. As he remembered the battle and that he had in fact won leadership over the pack in it, a wave of different emotions washed over him, a maelstrom that let itself out in one short burst.

"Crap!"

He had to pass judgment now. He had the final say. Collin knew full well what he _wanted _to do, but that pesky bit of gray matter devoted to his conscious made him debate if what he wanted to do was the _right_ thing and not just the _satisfying_ thing.

"Have you reached a decision?"

_This is too much for a thirteen-year-old!_

Collin closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and answered…

He occupied himself with looking upon the glare on the window. It had gone from that searing bright white color to a dim brown. The sun was now visible from beyond the clouds and he could see it setting in the distance. It made him tired, just as much as everything else had. So, coming out of his momentary lapse in concentration, he continued to reminisce…

Collin had come to a decision, one that was met quicker and more efficiently than he could have imagined. Those wolves were _good_ at following orders.

Evtee had been demoted pretty much as far as you could be. He was something akin to an indentured servant of the pack. The elder wolf had to serve all other members of the pack without a word of back talk. In fact, he had to spend his first month under a vow of silence. The servitude was to last a year and a half, about the same amount of time the pack was under his tyranny. After that, he was to spend the rest of his time within the jails, which Collin was surprised that they even had in the first place.

"Man, they have everything here! Next thing you know, I'm gonna walk around the corner and see a Starbucks." He had retorted once one of the wolves had filled him in.

"Starbucks?" Matthias asked, causing Collin to groan and smack himself, rather hard, on the forehead.

_Add Starbucks to the list of things to explain…_

After that had been the matter of having to leave the pack behind. The boy surveyed the bookshelf, parting with his mental video clip of what had occurred for a moment to gather his thoughts. It had almost been kind of sad to leave, like he was leaving behind a family. But he had to leave to continue on with his destiny, like it or not. Besides, he was more than glad to give control of the pack over to Cuiasodo.

The only problem was, he couldn't.

"What? But I'm the _Alpha_ now! I thought that meant that I could do _anything_!"

"You still have to obey the laws of the pack." Cuiasodo chimed, solemnly. "'Only through a test of combat can a new Alpha be chosen'. That is the law word for word."

"Ok." Collin bowed and put his bandana on. "Fight me, then!"

Collin again felt that coldness that filled out under his skin the last time he had faced a duel. Only now, the problem was that he was facing a friend rather than an enemy. Collin was planning on more or less throwing the fight, but he still had to make it look a little convincing, and that posed the problem of injuring Cuiasodo, who was now standing tall at the opposite end of the room, a brand new staff to replace his old broken in clasped in his hands.

"Ready? Begin!" It looked like the official wasn't going to waste time with long explanations now. Collin was actually glad for it.

The wolf stood stark still, his staff ready. Collin, meanwhile, was attempting to be less daring and more reserved (not something easily done when your limbs were screaming for movement because of feeding off of adrenaline). He remembered how this had all happened the first time; he rushed Cuiasodo, and the warrior fended him off like he was dealing with a child, which ,Collin begrudgingly realized, Cuiasodo _was _technically dealing with. This time would be different. Collin would hold back.

Cuiasodo could see a change in his opponent's posture and knew that Collin would not charge. It was useless to wait, least this match turn into a perpetual stalemate, so Cuiasodo began to rush towards Collin. At the same time the wolf swung his staff through the frigid air, the boy let his mind go…

He let the waves of cold in the room wash over him as his world began to slow down, and bit by bit, he saw Cuiasodo's approach as if from some place outside of time. Everything was slowed down and easy to see like something out of _The_ _Matrix_. You'd think that this would be something that he had learned from Blane. Nope. Collin had more or less picked it up on his own. It was part of that bit of knowledge that leaked into his brain when he held his weapon, part of things that he himself had come to know. Yes, this is what happens to you when you spend all of your time watching martial arts movies.

Cuiasodo finally swung his staff, only to gasp in surprise as he found he was now holding two slightly smaller chunks of wood. Down the middle of his weapon was a clean cut that could have only been made by a saw blade…or an enchanted sword.

"Oh, I'm sooo sorry!"

Cuiasodo just starred at what he was holding now. A fine piece of hardwood, cleaved in half by a cub…the frown broke into a smile. That boy was good!

"Alpha Collin has broken Cuiasodo's weapon. Cuiasodo is unable to continue until he can find a replacement."

The sword wielding teen slowly approached Cuiasodo.

"Sorry…"

Collin felt the wolf's hand on his shoulder. "It is alright. You did well. I haven't seen a strike like that in…well, I do not think I have even seen a strike like that."

The moment of slightly mushy tenderness was broken by commotion from the onlookers. Someone was trying to push their way through the crowd. Both Cuiasodo and Collin groaned when they saw who it was.

"What do _you_ want?" Collin spat at scraggly henchman.

The wolf could only scratch his head in hesitation, causing a few black specks to fly. He looked at the floor, then at Collin, then at Cuiasodo, and then back to Collin again, reminding the boy of a stray dog. Finally seeming to make up his mind, the former lackey of Evtee turned to Cuiasodo, bowed and presented him with a cylindrical object wrapped in leather.

"You should have this. It is a relic that Evtee stole from your father's effects…Janyu would have wanted you to have it."

Cuiasodo more or less ignored the other wolf after "stole from your father's". Slowly and reverently, because he felt that he needed to do so in that manner, the leather was unwrapped to reveal gleaming silver. It was the staff that Evtee had wielded in the fight against Collin.

The delivery wolf bowed deeply. "I am sorry, Master Cuiasodo. I know that Evtee was a cruel and wicked leader and I had suspected for some time what he had done, but I had to serve him for fear of my life. I want to make it up to you. Let me serve you."

Cuiasodo put up a paw to silence him. "There is no need. You do not have to serve anybeast now. You are free."

The filthy "servant" was ecstatic. "Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Oh Ma- I mean, Sir Cuiasodo, thank you!"

Cuiasodo didn't know what the wolf was so overjoyed. Evtee was the one who had forced him into servitude, not he. The only thing that he had done was remind him that he was free. Nevertheless, he accepted.

"You are welcome, many times over, friend."

They once again stood across from each other, both just warriors fighting for a good purpose. Collin was pre-occupied with the thought of how one of those anime-ish style close ups of the eyes and faces of he and Cuiasodo would look right now when the official began the second round.

The wolf swung with full force at Collin, thinking that he could easily block or evade the attack. The boy blocked in impulse, parrying the weapon with all of the strength in his limbs. What happened next differed on whom you asked.

A bright light filled the cavern, brighter than the brightest lantern and ten times fiercer than fire. Collin was instantly reminded of the fireworks back home. All at once it was gone, but the energy from the light didn't just disappear. It became kinetic and thrust the two metal weapons across the chamber in opposite directions.

The combatants froze for a moment in shock until the realized that their defenses were down. Both rushed to their armaments, both grabbed them up with utmost haste, both brandished them with inane skill and both were stopped by the intervention of Blane.

"The match is over. We shall settle this at a later time." He was no official, but he sounded so much so like one that even the real judge stepped out of the matter. As far as anybody was concerned, the match was over. Now, everyone occupied themselves with talking about the strange phenomenon with the light and catapulted weapons. Except Cuiasodo, and, incidentally, a very peeved Collin.

"What the heck did you do that for?"

Blane merely looked at Cuiasodo's staff, nodded, and uttered, "Soulite."

It all clicked. "Oh." Collin responded meekly.

It did all make sense. Matthias's sword had been made out of Soulite, and when he and Collin had dueled, the same exact thing had happened; both weapons were torn form each other in burst of magnificent light. As Blane had said, this was the (possibly only) way that they could tell what the Soulite weapons were and who wielded them. This time, it was a staff and the wielder was Cuiasodo.

"You shall come with us now." Blane had a talent for being blunt, Collin had discovered.

He expected Cuiasodo to ask why, and possibly be a bit aggravated at the prospect of leaving home. Collin himself was a bit homesick. But the wolf just looked into Blane's eyes which were now peeking over his sunglasses. He looked, and understood.

"Alright. I will join you."

They had of course explained the full story to Cuiasodo later (with much embellishment on Collin's part about the battles he had faced). The wolf just had the same reaction to the story as he had to Blane's gaze. _Alright…_

So here they were, warriors all, fighters ready to battle the forces of darkness to the last, Each and every one of them as capable as the next. A motley crew; a mouse, and otter, a wolf, a tomboy, a martial-arts movie enthusiast and a strangely dressed sage. Like something straight out of a video game.

Collin sat on the couch and looked over to Cuiasodo who was absent mindedly staring out of the window, and thought back to how the wolf had departed from his tribe.

There had been the usual affair of tears and mushy goodbyes from both sides (Orson even cried a bit when he had to say his farewells from the brewer of the wolf ail). As the group ascended the steps of the zeppelin and waved goodbye to the tribe of canines, Cuiasodo turned to Collin and whispered,

"You do know that you are still Alpha. The Council is in control now, but a leader will have to come back and take command."

"I know…"

He became starry eyed as he reflected on what Cuiasodo had said after that, going as far as to picture Cuiasodo's lips moving even now and again saying the words.

_"I _will_ have to challenge you again, you know that?"_

_"Yeah…and I'll be ready…"_


	20. Jungle Lag

The Samurai of Redwall

Part: 18

Jungle-Lag

Five more days were eaten up by travel time. Collin divided all of this among talking to Cuiasodo (he was a good conversationalist, although nine times out of ten, Collin had no idea what he was talking about), learning simple survival and warrior tricks with Matthias ("You're supposed to stand like that when fighting? Who knew!"), having to put up with constantly hearing advice from Orson (you could only hear the "true secret to hotroot soup" so many times before you wanted to actually jump from the zeppelin!) and, of course, training with Blane (the plus here: he got to train alongside Kylie). And then there were other leisure activities; darts, which Orson excelled at, cards which Kylie beat Collin at every time and Twenty Questions, which, to both Collin's surprise and Kylie's, Blane was very, _very _good at. So, good, in fact, that he had guessed one of Collin's choices within three turns…and the person wasn't even from his dimension.

"How the fuzz do you know who John Travolta is!?" an exasperated Collin asked

"I've been around, you could say. Really liked his work, especially Die Hard."

Both of the Earth-humans gave him a look.

"Um…Travolta wasn't _in_ Die Hard." Collin finally replied.

"Really? Could have fooled me. Must have been a parallel dimension. Does he have red hair?"

Collin was, to say the least, disheartened at all of his losses. Every time they played any sort of game, he lost. Blane had him on sheer knowledge, Orson was best with accuracy, Matthias's specialty was strategy (Kylie got them all playing an improvised version of Dungeons and Dragons. The end result? Matthias the Gnome Lord mopped the floor with both Princess Kylie of the Elf Kingdom and Collin the Horrible), Cuiasodo had him beat on defense and Kylie one-upped Collin on intuition and social skills, as seen back at the trial in Cuiasodo's tribe.

But, he still prided himself with the thing that he was best at: combat! Sure, Cuiasodo was a skilled defender. Sure, Matthias was a seasoned war veteran. Sure, Orson could sling a stone, Kylie could parry a blow, Blane could see a hit coming, but could any of them dodge a blow as artfully as he? Could any of them swing a sword half as good as he could, mimicking samurai blow for blow? Did any of them have supernatural, ninja-like powers, and a kick-arse bandana to go along with it? Nope, and as far as he was concerned, his gift outranked theirs by several points at least.

They all had launched into another round of twenty questions (Collin was shocked that Matthias had never played the game until this trip) when their air ship made landfall without warning. Collin, Orson and Kylie wound up on the floor, as if they had just finished a game of _Twister_.

"Oh…so _that's_ why my ears popped!" Collin jibed, his lips running against the carpet.

No one laughed. Minus points for Collin! Then again, everyone was all too engrossed in gazing out the window to see where they were right now, because Blane certainly wasn't telling. As he did before, once they arrived, all he said was, "We're here."

Here was green. Here was lush jungle. Here was noisy, with the chatter of bugs and a few things that sounded bigger. And Here was warm! Thankful that they did not need their coats this time, the band exited the zeppelin…with one lagging behind. Well, not all of them were as thankful; Cuiasodo began to pant under the invisible pressure of the heat and humidity.

"Tough break, Cui." the boy said as he patted the wolf's back. Collin had taken to shortening Cuiasodo's name to Cui after mispronouncing it numerous times.

_After calling him Casado, it was just time to call it quits!_

His friend was not amused. He was still getting used to his new, one-syllable name.

"I will be fine. Those of my pack would be nowhere without our stoic determination"

_And I'd be nowhere without these shorts!_ He thought, but did not say out loud.

A moment of admiring the slight breeze on his bare shins and Collin the Warrior began down the ramp again, keeping a slow pace so as to allow Cuiasodo to tail behind.

They trampled into the greenery, making a racket as they stamped on the long green grass and beat the emerald vegetation aside. The group's percussion mingled with the chorus of the jungle chatter until Blane produced a solution in the way of his sword. Blane took out his weapon and set upon the plants like a farmer to crops. Hacking and slashing like a man with a machete, the others were reluctant to follow and risk being caught up in his weed killing wake.

Kylie was at the forefront, although obviously trying to avoid a stray swipe or two from the haphazardly moving master. Matthias and Orson were after, both thinking that it would not be a very nice thing to lose their heads and die here, despite the beautiful backdrop. Collin brought up the rear, but only because of Cuiasodo. The sword blows? They didn't scare him! He knew he'd be able to move out of the way fast enough should Blane get too careless.

Should_ he get to careless? He's already gone for broke in the careless department!_

While Collin wondered how the phrase "go for broke" entered into his mind, it dawned on him that he wanted very much to know his objective in this place. Blane had to have known about the wolves, and maybe even about the dispute in Cuiasodo's tribe. At least, he had known about the Soulite staff that Cuiasodo now wielded, since it was in accordance with the prophecy that he kept spouting on about. There had to be a reason that they were here, and Collin was not going to head in blind.

The boy pardoned himself from Cuiasodo and slid his way to the front of the line of beasts/people that now looked like a bizarre Boy Scout troop more than anything else. He had proven himself, hadn't he? Evtee had been given the beating of his life, all thanks to Warrior Collin. And who could forget about those intruders at the abbey (minus the one that eluded him)? Still, Collin had not gotten his reward, although he frequently pictured a cheering crowd of fans.

"_No-no, thanks, it was nothing! Honestly, taking out a few bozos is easy, really! I mean, who _can't_ run up the side of a vertical wall these days? Come on, stop cheering…alright you can keep on, keepin' on!"_

Cheering spectators, millions knowing his name. A group right in the front wore T-shirts with his name and face on them…

_On second thought, maybe I should pick a fantasy that's not uber creepy_

Pitching away thoughts of embarrassing T-shirts and possible stalkers, Collin prepared himself. He deserved this, he really did. He was the Chosen One and he should know what was going on! Nearing the side of Blane the slice-and-dice-oo-matic, Collin readied his fine probing skills to pierce the armor of Blane.

He had to go about this subtly. Getting to the point too quick would result in being shot down, but if he stalled for to long, he would become exposed. Collin had to pick and prod, chisel away at the stone before finding the diamond he was looking for. Step by step. Lull Blane into a false sense of security and BAM! Ask him the question! Collin took a deep breath. Ok, ready. On the count of three, chisel! One…two…

"So…why'd we come here?" he blurted.

Smooth move, double-oo-zero!

Blane didn't even give the courtesy of looking sideways at Collin and frowning, like he had the other five times his student had tried to extract information.

"The prophecy declares that we arrive here seeking the next wielder of a Soulite weapon. All that I know is that we are supposed to be here, and I am meant to know no more. Part of the journey is that we must forge our own way without knowing why, young one."

Young one. At first, the phrase had brought about a nerdy feeling of giddy as Collin reminisced back to every Bruce Lee or other martial arts film it was used in. The phrase, however, was running thin; Collin counted fifty three uses so far.

Ok, so that was how Blane was going to play it, fine. He would just have to insist. After all, Blane himself had taught him to be persistent!

"Really?" he stroked his chin, pretending to be in deep thought, "So, you don't know why we're here, huh? And yet, your leading all of us down a path to someplace in this jungle?"

"That is correct." He returned, matter-of-fact.

"So, you're just walking into the jungle, looking like you have a clear idea on where we should go when you have no clue as to where we are really heading?"

"Again, you are correct."

Collin slouched over, patience exhausted. "Fine, don't tell me!"

He made his way to the back of the line and stayed next to Cuiasodo just as there was a change.

The audio scenery suddenly shifted. Rustlings of plants and shouts from local wildlife were overcome by sharp sliding and shuffling noises and the clanking of-

_Chains?_

That had to be what the rattling was: chains.

_But from where? How? Is there some kind of biker gang out here in the middle of nowhere?_

Collin was contemplating warthogs ridding upon Harley's when the head of the group finally cleared the grass. Blane saw something and Collin guessed by his pose that he wanted to get closer. He didn't need to guess, for a moment later his sensei ran out into the clearing and knelt down near the far edge. Kylie slowly crept out from cover but took off just as Blane had at the sight of whatever was on the left side of the clearing. Collin found himself closer to the opening as Matthias and Orson, both pretty assured that they should pick up the pace and dash to the other side as their predecessors had, sprinted full tilt for the two humans. Collin's turn…

He leaned out and craned his neck beyond the greenery to see what everyone was staring at. The boy blinked, rubbed his eyes in a cartoon-y fashion, blinked again. Yep, there definitely was reason to stare.

A battle to the death was taking place among two ancient adversaries just on the opposite end of the clearing. All other sounds of the jungle had been completely eclipsed by the dueling of the two combatants. One; long, horrible and reptilian. The other; spry, lean and quick. The match between the two was obvious and yet Collin had not expected to witness anything like _this _on his trip.

A cobra, longer than three school buses (probably closer to three-and-a-half) and half as big around, slithered left and right, trying to get at its opponent, who happened to be a mongoose wielding a chain, dressed in simple shorts and wearing-

"Sunglasses?"

That's what they looked like. Just like black Ray-Bands, goggle like even. The sleek black frames fused perfectly with the bulbous reflective lenses to obscure the eyes of the mongoose.

The cobra lunged for his furry foe but to no avail; the mongoose leaned out of the way with utmost grace. Back and out, just the right distance away from the deadly fangs of the beast. The creature's momentary picturesque pose reminded Collin of something out of _The Matrix_.

The scaly coils of the monster shifted around as he prepared to go in for a counter attack. Collin, along with Kylie and the others, nearly screamed as the serpent's mouth shot out at the warrior; he was looking the complete opposite way and didn't see it coming. But the mongoose did react.

The last millisecond caused the chain wielding fighter to vanish and become a tan blur. It re-appeared in mid air, as if it had jumped, and, flipping, made it's descent to safer ground away from the crushing coils and poison teeth of the cobra.

The evasion? Perfect! The landing? Not so much so…

The tan blur would have made a successful descent were it not for the snake's lashing tail. The muscular length cracked against the mongoose's foot, causing him to flip several more revolutions than planned and land, back to ground, facing up at his eminent doom.

Blane went for his sword, knowing that as a warrior it was his job to go in for the assist. But apparently, someone else had the same thought going through their head.

"Collin!" he shouted at his foolish apprentice. The boy was headed straight for the cobra, running at full tilt as he had back at the abbey. The Soulite sword was out already, gleaming in the sun.

Collin felt the blade's power wash over him, stream into him like a cool breeze. Everything sharpened, became clearer. Anything that was non-substantial, anything that didn't pertain to him attacking the snake was wiped from his mind. He blinked but for a second, letting everything slow down.

It was happening again, just like when Orson had flung the pebble at him. The universe was moving in slow motion. An action that Collin had only seen as a fantastical movie effect was coming to life right before his two eyes. The boy shouted at the cobra to attract its attention.

Unfortunately, Collin had forgotten that snakes sense vibration rather than speech. The snake turned to face the charging warrior quicker than he had guessed.

_That's alright, though, I'm still moving too fast, ergo the neat-oo slow motion effect._

He skidded to a halt, blade raised in defensive position. Collin was dangerously close to the cobra but was confident that he could evade anything that came his way. That's the thing about confidence; if it becomes to strong, it blinds you.

The serpent launched itself at Collin, hood spread blocking out all of the sun. The gigantic leviathan eclipsed even the blue sky above and the green around. It obscured everything, moving upon the boy fast.

Collin leaned back, mimicking the mongoose. Using flexibility that he didn't know he had, he began to do a perfect limbo pose when he noticed something peculiar.

_Why am I not moving fast?_

True, everything had slowed down, but he was still moving sluggishly. The cobra, unfortunately, was not. Midway through his suicidal lean, the maw of the beast was upon him.

It was too late for him to block. Collin had thrown everything into his evasion. He felt the snake's flesh brush against his shirt a millisecond before his pecks began to sting as the venomous snake did its deadly work. Two fangs, burning like twin hot-irons, raked his chest. He could actually feel the poison seep into the scraped open skin, burning worse than the fangs had.

The universe returned to normal. Everything resumed its usual speed and the rest of the snake sped over the wounded and now unbalanced Collin. The sword fell from his hands. The ground came up from behind and mashed the air out of his body. All the while, his limbs became numb and the area where he had been bitten felt-

_Dead…_

Dead. Just like he was. Just like the rest of him would be. Collin slipped into oblivion, cursing the snake, the mongoose, Blane, the World, his luck and his rashness. The boy fell into the dark, remembering that he was just thirteen years old, too young to go this way. He fell, not expecting to wake up…


End file.
